(The Sun)
Harry Pettit May 21, 2019 10:17 am
NASA'S official plans to build a permanent base on the Moon have seemingly leaked online, revealing how and when astronauts will return to the rocky world for the first time in 50 years.
Internal documents appear to show how Nasa wants to launch 37 rockets to the Moon within the next decade, with at least five of these carrying astronauts.
Starting with an unmanned rover in 2023, the space agency is expected to land people on the Moon in 2024.
Nasa will then fire manned missions to Earth's neighbour every year between 2024 and 2028, according to the documents, which were obtained by Arstechnica.
The decade-long program culminates with a permanent lunar base, which Nasa wants to start building in 2028.
The plans began circulating among Nasa staff last week, according to Arstechnica's Eric Berger.
They are in part a response to recent calls from US Vice President Mike Pence to take astronauts back to the Moon.
"In the nearly two months since Pence directed Nasa to return to the Moon by 2024, space agency engineers have been working to put together a plan that leverages existing technology, large projects nearing completion, and commercial rockets to bring this about," Berger wrote.
"Last week, an updated plan that demonstrated a human landing in 2024, annual sorties to the lunar surface thereafter, and the beginning of a Moon base by 2028, began circulating within the agency."
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