Why are we waiting till 2012 before flying to the moon again?

Answer 1

Several reasons, my favorite is we're just a bit lazy.

But they probably have to design and build another spacecraft capable of landing on and taking off from the moon.

Answer 2

"Space flight is terribly unforgiving of carelessness, incapacity or neglect. I don't know what the Thompson committee will find is the cause of this accident, but I know what I find. We were the cause. The simulators weren't ready. Our software in Mission Control didn't function. Procedures weren't complete. Nothing we did had any shelf life. And no one stood up and said, "Damn it, stop!" Now from this day forward, Mission Control will be known by two words: tough and competent. Tough meaning we will never again shirk from our responsibility because we're forever accountable for what we do, or what we fail to do. Competent - we'll never again take anything for granted; we'll never stop learning. When you leave here today, you'll write these two words "tough" and "competent" on your blackboard, and they will never be erased. They will serve as a constant reminder to the sacrifice of Grissom, White and Chaffee. That's all."

- Gene Kranz, after the fire that ended Apollo 1.

The right people can make things happen with a minimum of goof-ups. Even with the right people, things will sometimes go wrong in a hugely complicated task such as a moon landing. But the more of the wrong people you let in, say, for political reasons, the more goof-ups will happen, the more people will die, and the less likely it is that a space mission will succeed.

Part of the reason NASA won't go back to the moon soon is they don't have a suitable launch vehicle. Part of the reason is that the fellows who did it the first time have retired, and the practical know-how just isn't there anymore. And, I suspect, part of the reason is that NASA has become acquainted with the limitations of some of its new "personnel." They don't dare attempt a new round of moonshots until they've found a way to work around those personnel limitations, preferably in such a way that it doesn't show.

Listen: I'm a West Virginia hillbilly goatherd, and *I* know celestial mechanics better than some of the Affirmative Action employees hired by NASA or JPL do. Those people got hired because of federal anti-discrimination requirements, and for no other reason. Didn't you notice how JPL put them on camera display, center stage, during the Mars Pathfinder news coverage? Because *they* were hired, more competent people were not hired.

Do you know what the difference is between an aluminum frame cot and a steel frame cot? One performs better than the other does. That's also the difference between a real rocket scientist and an imitation hired to satisfy an EEOC requirement.

Answer 3

First, it will be more like 2018-2020 before the US returns to the moon under current plans. 2012 was supposed to be the first launch with astronauts of NASA's new rocket, but that now looks more like 2014.

Why so long? Money is a big issue, but also the engineering, testing and qualification needed to build a space vehicle. As simple as NASA's plans seem - take some Shuttle stuff, move this here and that there and voila! - putting all the pieces together, reworking them for the new requirements, designing them, validating and testing those designs, and finally building the hardware and launching... They're not trivial or fast matters, especially on as large and public an effort as this.

On the money issue: full effort on the moon program can't start until the Shuttle is retired. It takes too much money to maintain, even when it's not flying. That is why the current NASA Administrator, Michael Griffin, is so insistent on sticking to George Bush's directive that the Shuttle be retired in 2010, after its role in building the Space Station is done.

Some would argue that private industry, encouraged to develop the solution on its own with a minimum of oversight, would do it faster and better. (Burt Rutan, who designed the first private spacecraft a few years ago, is infamous for chiding NASA that it could do better.)

We may get a chance to see if that's true. NASA is working to award at least one company a contract to service the Station using its own rocket. That could lead to a faster, more private-side route back to the moon.

Answer 4

because of the fact on the present time we've not have been given any new counsel to glean from the moon and the super costs of working such missions. the gap return and forth purely has some years left in it besides till now its retired to make way for the hot Orion craft NASA would be employing in destiny Moon/Mars missions. Orion would be waiting by way of 2015 or so and missions will start up working around 2020. As for attempting to 'beat' the chinese language, i for my section see no reason in the back of the united statesto even provide it a 2nd look. They did it years in the past, the chinese language are way in the back of.

Answer 5

money is the problem but not much likely since the government can provide it from our taxess!!! but oh well at least i no my parents taxes are worth for something anyways why tat long money is one problem but not much...second reason is tat we have to do everything carefully... its a long way there all tat food, oxygen, water, gas, money we need all tat.... third reason is that NASA might be planning on another computer technology to use on the space shuttle but i doubt tat...fourth its because they planned it at tat time.... 5th well we have scientists tat are ovbserving the rocks from the moon and plus this time its not gonna be a visit like the last one this one is gonna have a few days mission of staying over at the moon (SLEEP OVER) the astronauts are gonna conduct more experiments than before if u didnt see this show tat comes on the Science Channel on Dish Network well there talking about if it is possible to live on the moon... probably tats wht NASA is up too right now... thinking of what type of experiments we have to do and the equipment tat'll be needed there.... there are many reasons we also have to prepare a crew to go there....its a whole lot of work if you dont no and if you waiting when the hell are we gonna go to Mars well u'll just have to hang on its a long trip over there and back 12 months back and front of traveling and 8 months to stay
6th reason can be tat in 2008 our Internation Space Station will finally be finished so were basically have our attention on the ISS not the moon yet after it is finished Space shuttle Discovery will retire in 2008 (tats what NASA is planning on) then comes in Atlantis.... but the engineers are planning a new type of space shuttle and i like this model then the one before its gonna be so cool to watch this one lift off...its like 2100 is alrdy here....well tats all the reasons i can think off though....

Answer 6

do you really think we have been there.. The estimate is that it'll take that long to get there. We now have technology in the hands of citizens that can track a ship and tell whether it is on the moon or in a hanger in a desert being badly produced by a crew that will die after the movie is sold to the gullible.. Look closely at the film and messages we have of those sad attempts to fool the world-- Scientists who have say it was not on the moon, and could not possibly have been.. It was done to scare the world into thinking we were so far ahead of them that they shouldn't dare mess with u.s. It worked for a long time.

Answer 7

Because NASA has "lost the technology" to do it.

We can only send capsules to the moon, and currently all we have are great big shuttles that need run ways so long they form to the curvature of the Earth to land.

Also since the Apollo mission NASA has closed down four of its listening posts across the globe. So we have no way of hearing what happens on the moon when it is night time here.

Answer 8

Because the moon is a lifeless rock floating in a void. It has little left that really needs to be studied. The only possible advantage the moon has is to be a possible base from which to launch from due to its low gravity or as the location of an observatory. There just really isn't much there of interest.

Answer 9

NASA, has to pretty much start over again. They're making renovasions to the way man will be sent to the moon and beyond, they're calculating how we can make it to Mars and they're saving up some money.

I think they're working on a new way to reach space without the space shuttle, after all they're not completly reliable.

Answer 10

The Mayan Calendar stops at 21st December 2012 - the date when they believed the world would end.

Escape Armagedon?