Supershuttle moon-bound

[Guest Glenn]

WASHINGTON: Astronauts will fly to the moon by 2018 in a spaceship likened by NASA to an "Apollo on steroids".

 

In a case of back to the future, NASA will combine space shuttle rocket technology with a capsule similar to the legendary Apollo, which put man on the moon in 1969, to breathe life into the US space program.

 

The plan is NASA's response to George W. Bush's call last year for humans to return to the moon as a stepping stone to Mars.

 

NASA administrator Michael Griffin said the astronauts would be sent into orbit in a crew exploration vehicle with the astronauts' capsule perched on top of the rockets instead of beside them, as in the ageing shuttles.

 

The craft would look like a larger Apollo. "Think of it as Apollo on steroids," said Mr Griffin, who said the "physics of atmospheric entry haven't changed recently".

 

The mission will cost $US104 billion ($135 billion) over 13 years. After adjusting for inflation, this is 55 per cent of what NASA spent to put 12 men on the moon between 1969 and 1972 during the Apollo era.