Humans are on track to live and work on the Moon by 2030, a NASA official has said.
The Moon colony won't look quite like this, of course.
(Frieso Hoevelkamp/Stocktrek Images/Getty Images) |
"We're going to be sending people down to the surface
and they're going to be living on that surface and doing science," said
Howard Hu, who leads the Orion lunar spacecraft program for NASA, the BBCreported Sunday.
NASA successfully launched its powerful new Space Launch
System, or SLS, rocket last week, sending the Orion spacecraft on its way
towards the Moon.
The launch, which had been repeatedly delayed, set NASA's
Artemis missions in motion, the first major step towards putting humans back on
the Moon in almost 50 years.
Orion is uncrewed this time around, as it aims to test its
ability to bring a capsule to the Moon and back. But next time it is expected
to take astronauts with it as it circles the celestial body.
If all goes well, the same spacecraft could then be used to
put humans on the Moon's surface, for the first time since 1972, including the
first female astronaut.
The current plan is for the crew to land near the Moon's
south pole, where they will spend about a week looking for signs of water. If
the precious liquid is found, it could be used to help fuel rockets on their
way to Mars.
This would mean permanent human settlements would need to be
built to support mining and scientific activities.
"It's the first step we're taking to long-term deep
space exploration, for not just the United States but for the world," Hu told
the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg.
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