NASA announced Tuesday at its headquarters that it has assigned new tasks about lunar exploration to the ten NASA centers around the nation, a major step for its "return to moon" project.
The center-by-center breakdown of assignments cover elements of the lunar lander and lunar surface operations. The federal space agency also announced work assignments for Ares V, a heavy-lift rocket for lunar missions.
The Ares V and lunar lander assignments will start up in fiscal year 2011, with lunar surface system assignments in fiscal year 2012.
"NASA's Constellation Program is making real progress toward sending astronauts to the moon," said Rick Gilbrech, NASA'S associate administrator for Exploration Systems.
"Work on our new fleet of rockets and spacecraft, Ares I and Orion, is already well under way. With these new assignments, NASA will launch the next phase of its exploration strategy -- landing crews and cargo on the surface of the moon," said Gilbrech.
NASA's Constellation Program is working to send astronauts to the moon, where they plan to set up a lunar outpost to prepare for human exploration further into the solar system.
The first crewed flight of the Orion spacecraft, aboard an AresI rocket, is scheduled for no later than 2015. Astronauts will return to the moon by 2020.
Each center will have the opportunity for additional work assignments as Constellation Program elements become further defined, said NASA.
Source:Xinhua
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