| | USATODAY.com - NASA to unveil plans for 2018 moon mission (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12) |
 | | NASA's plan, according to briefing charts obtained by Space.com, envisions beginning a sustained lunar exploration campaign in 2018 by landing four astronauts on the moon for a seven-day stay. |
 | | The expedition would begin, these charts show, by launching the lunar lander and Earth departure stage (essentially a giant propulsion module) on a heavy-lift launch vehicle that would be lifted into orbit by five space shuttle main engines and a pair of five-segment shuttle solid rocket boosters. |
 | | By that time, according to NASA's charts, the space agency would expect to be spending $7 billion a year on its exploration efforts, a figure projected to grow to more than $15 billion a year by 2018, that date NASA has targeted for its first human lunar landing since Apollo 17 in 1972. |
| www.usatoday.com /tech/science/space/2005-09-15-moon-2018-mission_x.htm (980 words) |