bush to announce america going back to the moon?

We all know that they went to the MOON all those years ago, but to me it almost doesn't feel real as I wasn't around when it happened.

Imagine looking at the moon from the garden and watching them live on TV through the window as they step out onto the surface, that would be something.

Look forward to see him take a one way to the moon, we could do with getting rid of that "war-monger"
Charles

Indeed Dubya is a warmonger.Thanks to that war tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis will live who would otherwise have died .Saddam killed an average of TEN THOUSAND a year for thirty years.The war killed thousands but saved tens of thousands.Had you got your way MANY more would have died an appaling death.But you are entitled to your opinion,after all it's a free country. SO IS IRAQ,thanks to the man you hate.I'm really not interested in politics on an astronomy site , so might I suggest ( respectfully and genuinely) we stick to astronomy?

Indeed Dubya is a warmonger.Thanks to that war tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis will live who would otherwise have died .Saddam killed an average of TEN THOUSAND a year for thirty years.The war killed thousands but saved tens of thousands.Had you got your way MANY more would have died an appaling death.But you are entitled to your opinion,after all it's a free country. SO IS IRAQ,thanks to the man you hate.I'm really not interested in politics on an astronomy site , so might I suggest ( respectfully and genuinely) we stick to astronomy?

I Agree. This is an astronomy site and not a politics site after all. I think if they go through with it and do go back to the moon then it's about time. but they have a lot of work ahead of them. If i remember rightly at the moment america doesnlt have a rocket powerful enough for a moon mission. So not only is their the training but there's also the development of the technology.

Personally i'm 28 now and i'll be surprised to see a man (sorry man or woman) landing on the moon any time before my 45th birthday. and as for mars i expect to be drawing my pension.

I do know is that I don't log on to an astronomy site to read anti- American conspiracy theories.

Did I miss a post or something? There are no `anti-american conspiracy theories` posted here. By all means complain about `anti-bush` comments but please dont read these as anti-american or conspiracy theories.

Meanwhile dragging this back on topic, the Chinese said in November that they are planning sending probes to the moon in the next 3 to 5 years, with manned missions within 10.
Some more details are on the Chinese Space Administration Site www.cnsa.gov.cn/main_e.asp
And news articles, for example english.peopledaily.com.cn/200311/02/eng20031102_127390.shtml

I think It would be hard for the US to get to the moon that quickly. They no longer have a saturn5 rocket program, so work would need to start from scratch, this was fine in the optimistic 60's when Kennedy convinced congress to unanimously approve the budget for the project. Now money would likley be tighter, and I cant see George getting democratic backing for the spending in congress.

A collaboration with the Chinese is out of the question, as NASA is still forbidden to work with them. However the ESA regularly work with the Chinese, so its possible that there will be an ESA astronaut on the moon before another NASA one.

Cheers,
~Al