Those are the words that Neil Armstrong said as he became the first man to walk on the moon. Now, 37 years later, man is going back to the Moon; this time, to stay.
NASA has announced plans to build a permanent outpost on the moon, and have it staffed by the year 2024. The mission will blast off in the year 2020, with crews of four making week-long runs to the Moon, before progressively starting longer missions. By 2024, humans will be there all the time.
The most likely place for the base to be built is the moon’s southern pole, where the majority of the sunlight is. It is also the more hospitable place for humans to live, and provides many interesting features to study. The astronauts will arrive on the moon via the “Orion exploration vehicle” and an all-purpose lunar lander, for touchdown. These rockets will be American ones, but Deputy NASA administrator Shana Dale said that the mission “envisioned and needed the cooperation of other nations”. These nations include Australia, Canada, China, European countries, Japan, India, and Russia.
“The Vision for Space Exploration”, as the mission is being called, was first announced in 2004, by President George W. Bush, just one year after the shuttle Columbia’s destruction, and Congress approved the plan. It is estimated that it will cost over $100 billion to support the program through 2025. The mission is a big step since the brief moon landings of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Since the last landing, astronauts have not ventured further than the International Space Station, 220 miles above earth.
What is the purpose of the station? NASA’s “lunar goals” include the advance of human civilization, scientific knowledge, exploration (specifically of Mars), and a cause for unity among earth’s nations. Apparently, they are not worried that any particular nation could get possessive over the moon, or some part of it, as history has shown will happen, at some time or another. When man first went to space, it quickly became a competition, especially between the Soviet Union and the United States; hence, that time period is called “the great space race”. The race occurred during the time of the Cold War, and that had a great affect upon the rivalry of the situation. Ultimately, the United States were the first to put man on the moon, but they disclaimed ownership to any part of it.
What may seem like a peaceful effort to expand earth’s civilization to other planets, such as “The Vision for Space Exploration”, could easily turn into another such race. If humans cannot live peacefully with each other on planet earth, what’s to say they could on any other planet? Selfishness is part of human nature, no matter where humans reside. This new mission to the moon is both exciting and frightening; what will happen next?
Sources:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-2489018,00.html
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2006/12/05/moon-base.html
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/more-than-enough-space/2006/12/05/1165080946331.html
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