Moon plan 'comes up short'

By Irene Mona Klotz

By failing to incorporate the long-term goals of establishing a permanent base on the Moon and missions to Mars in its new manned space program, the US space agency is missing a prime opportunity, say critics.

"To be blunt, we have big problems with this plan," Henry Vanderbilt, head of the Space Access Society advocacy group, wrote in an e-mail newsletter.

"It's the same basic approach as Apollo: disposable (mostly) spacecraft, on big Nasa-proprietary boosters, flown a few times a year, by a standing army of Nasa and contractor employees. This is Apollo 2.0."

The plan, outlined by Nasa administrator Michael Griffin on Monday, is based on a new capsule that initially would be used to ferry crews and cargo to the space station.

By 2018, however, the spacecraft, with four astronauts aboard, would be routed to the Moon atop a newly developed rocket for the first in a series of lunar expeditions.

The plan leaves open the possibility for developing a permanently occupied base on the Moon, but does not require Nasa to do so.

"Like Apollo, Nasa's new plan has built into it the seeds of its shutdown by some future Congress once the warm glow of the first few daring missions has once again faded," Vanderbilt said.

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