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29 March 2024

'The Eagle has landed'

(AFP)

Published
By Nic Ridley

Forty years ago on Monday, Neil Armstrong stepped tentatively onto the surface of the moon with the now-immortal words: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

Grainy black and white images of the astronaut climbing down from the lunar module, Eagle, were beamed to Earth to become one of the seminal moments of the 20th?Century.

Much has changed since those iconic pictures were broadcast to millions of homes and schools. The United States is no longer locked in a space race with what was then the Soviet Union.

Astronauts today live aboard the International Space Station alongside colleagues from Russia, Japan, Europe and Canada.

But the moon continues to fascinate Nasa, and space experts and enthusiasts hope a return to the moon is imminent. President Barack Obama has ordered an independent review of all manned space flight, including plans to return to Earth's nearest neighbour. The results are expected next month.

In the decades since the crew of Apollo 11 made history, Nasa has spent hundreds of billions of dollars on space exploration, and for the past 30 years that has involved its fleet of Space Shuttles. Of the five shuttles designed for space flight – Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour – only three remain. Challenger disintegrated after launch in 1986, and Endeavour was built as a replacement. Columbia broke apart during re-entry in 2003.

The entire fleet is scheduled to be retired from service next year and its replacement programme, dubbed Project Constellation and involving Ares rockets, is not due before 2014.

However, the question remains over the funding needed for Nasa. In the current economic climate, Congress is discussing the possibility of delaying the retirement of the space shuttles.

One proposal, which would cost about $10 billion (Dh36.7bn), would have the shuttles make six or seven additional flights between 2010 and 2013 and it would accelerate development of Constellation.

A second proposal would keep the shuttles flying until 2015 and leave intact Constellation's schedule.

Under the proposed budget, the agency will receive $18.7bn in 2010. Combined with $1bn in funding provided in an economic stimulus package signed into law earlier this year, Nasa would get $2.4bn more than it did in 2008.

 

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