White House killing NASA's moon mission, reports say

29.01.2010
Reports surfacing this week say that the White House plans to put a stop to NASA's plans to return to the moon.

The Orlando Sentinel , quoting an unnamed White House source, reported yesterday that to push the space agency in a new direction.

David Steitz, a spokeperson at NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C., said he wouldn't comment on such reports until the White House budget proposal is announced. The plan is expected to be released on Monday.

to not only return astronauts to the moon, but also to build a lunar outpost there by 2020. The NASA plan includes first sending and machines to the moon to create a landing area for spacecraft, and a base where humans can live.

NASA scientists have been preparing what the agency calls the Constellation moon landing plan, which was set forth by former President George W. Bush.

In June, two lunar satellites as the opening act in the long-term mission to send humans back to the moon. The satellites -- the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite - were designed to provide them with new .