Nasa may be going back to the Moon

WASHINGTON The United States is considering a possible manned mission around the Moon as early as next year, marking the first such trip since the Apollo era ended in the early 1970s.

Following requests from the White House, Nasa had formed a team to examine accelerating earlier plans to launch a crew by 2021, said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator of the agency’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. Preliminary results of the review should be ready in about a month.

‘‘We have a good, crisp list of all the things we would physically have to change’’ on the launch vehicle under development, Gerstenmaier said.

Resuming manned missions would mark a leap towards deeper exploration of space, including one day putting humans on Mars. US President Donald Trump has indicated support for a more ambitious programme.

Under the original plan, the programme’s Space Launch System rocket and companion Orion capsule had been scheduled to make an unmanned flight around the Moon in 2018, and carry a crew on the second flight three years later.

Nasa hasn’t sent people beyond low Earth orbit since the final Moon missions more than 40 years ago.

Boeing, the primary contractor for the Space Launch System, had been planning to use a rocket portion for the first flight that hasn’t been tested for manned missions.

Lockheed Martin, which is building the Orion capsule, didn’t plan to incorporate functional life support systems until the second flight.

Nasa was studying the possibility of a two-person crew on the first flight, which would last about eight or nine days on the trip around the Moon, said William Hill, deputy associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development.

Gerstenmaier acknowledged that changes required to support humans could push the launch of Exploration Mission 1 back from the late 2018 target. Bloomberg