Possible new manned moon missions to be revealed soon

**Jaketh** · November 10, 2012, 04:11 AM

The space agency has apparently been thinking about setting up a manned outpost beyond the moon's far side, both to establish a human presence in deep space and to build momentum toward a planned visit to an asteroid in 2025.

"They've been holding off announcing that until after the election," Logsdon added, noting that Romney had pledged to reassess and possibly revise NASA's missions and direction.

If this is true this is more exciting to me then any of the other topics discussed during the election. Space exploration has stagnated in the past few decades so i sincerely hope this is true that NASA along with private companies like SpaceX are building up more momentum in this area.

**Nutsack** · November 10, 2012, 04:21 AM

What the hell? Wasn't this the same damn thing Gingrich was going off on for the whole Republican primary? And everyone laughed at him and dismissed him for it? Now there doing it anyway? What?

**Menelik_I** · November 10, 2012, 04:39 AM

Originally Posted by Nutsack

What the hell? Wasn't this the same damn thing Gingrich was going off on for the whole Republican primary? And everyone laughed at him and dismissed him for it? Now there doing it anyway? What?

My exact impression.

inserted a new element of cislunar/lunar gateway/Earth-moon L2 sort of stuff into the plan," Logsdon told SPACE.com. (The Earth-moon L2 is a so-called libration point where the two bodies' gravitational pulls roughly balance out, allowing spacecraft to essentially park there.)

http://www.space.com/18380-nasa-moon...election.html?

This is the only thing interesting about this news, because if they actually build a fuel depot in L2 and some form of fuel producing facility on the moon surface, then this is not anymore a stupid Apollo Program rerun in HD.

**John I Tzimisces** · November 10, 2012, 05:42 AM

Somebody probably found out China was planning to put a missile base on the moon or something, and poof, suddenly the people in congress in charge of where the money goes cared about space exploration as our patriotic duty.

**Jaketh** · November 10, 2012, 05:49 AM

I don't care what the reasons are for going back to the moon, only that we are. Rivalry with the Soviets is what got us to the moon the first time afterall.

**Magister Militum Flavius Aetius** · November 10, 2012, 07:36 AM

Yeah taking new steps in space exploration is important for our specie's continued survival. I would pump money into having robots set up a terraformer on mars if I was president. And as for the moon, well there's not much up there but it would make for a good refueling depot, it might help with the cost of actually putting things into space.