Flying to the Moon

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The ISS, from the shuttle mission in May 2010. Credit: NASA

Last month the International [Space][3] Station partner agencies met to discuss the continuation of space station operations into the next decade and its use as a research laboratory. They also did a little forward thinking, and talked about some unique possibilities for the station’s future, including the potential for using the space station as a launching point to fly a manned mission around [the Moon][4]. I don’t know what our readers think, but I’m thinking this is just about the coolest idea I’ve heard in a long while! I’m having visions of [a Star][5] Trek-like space-dock, but on just a smaller scale! In an [article by the BBC’s Jonathan Amos,][6] the partners said they want the [ISS][7] to become more than just a high-flying platform for doing experiments in microgravity, but also hope to see it become a testbed for the next-generation technologies and techniques needed to go beyond low-[Earth orbit][8] to explore destinations such as [asteroids][9] and [Mars][10].

(…) Read the rest of [Flying to the Moon — From the Space Station?][11] (336 words)

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(C) nancy for [Universe Today][12], 2010. | [Permalink][11] | [6 comments][13] | Add to [del.icio.us][14] Post

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[1]: http://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/iss-580×396.jpg (The ISS, from the shuttle mission in May 2010. Credit: NASA) [2]: http://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/iss.jpg [3]: http://www.universetoday.com/25406/space/ () [4]: http://www.universetoday.com/19424/the-moon/ () [5]: http://www.universetoday.com/24936/a-stars/ () [6]: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11304559 [7]: http://www.universetoday.com/52067/international-space-station/ () [8]: http://www.universetoday.com/60640/earth-orbit/ () [9]: http://www.universetoday.com/32459/asteroids/ () [10]: http://www.universetoday.com/14701/mars/ () [11]: http://www.universetoday.com/75535/flying-to-the-moon-from-the-space-station/ [12]: http://www.universetoday.com [13]: http://www.universetoday.com/75535/flying-to-the-moon-from-the-space-station/#comments [14]: http://del.icio.us/post?url=http://www.universetoday.com/75535/flying-to-the-moon-from-the-space-station/&title=Flying to the Moon — From the Space Station? [15]: http://www.universetoday.com/tag/iss/ [16]: http://www.universetoday.com/tag/moon/ [17]: http://www.universetoday.com/tag/space-station/ [18]: http://planetozh.com/blog/my-projects/wordpress-plugin-better-feed-rss/ [19]: http://planetozh.com/blog/ [20]: http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wl70bTOZ-kGHYBdItOkZnKbNB9c/0/di [21]: http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wl70bTOZ-kGHYBdItOkZnKbNB9c/0/da [22]: http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wl70bTOZ-kGHYBdItOkZnKbNB9c/1/di [23]: http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wl70bTOZ-kGHYBdItOkZnKbNB9c/1/da [24]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/universetoday/pYdq?d=yIl2AUoC8zA [25]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/universetoday/pYdq?a=eVOlUu-BOn4:au0p5PnxPUc:yIl2AUoC8zA [26]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/universetoday/pYdq?d=dnMXMwOfBR0 [27]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/universetoday/pYdq?a=eVOlUu-BOn4:au0p5PnxPUc:dnMXMwOfBR0 [28]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/universetoday/pYdq?d=7Q72WNTAKBA [29]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/universetoday/pYdq?a=eVOlUu-BOn4:au0p5PnxPUc:7Q72WNTAKBA [30]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/universetoday/pYdq?i=eVOlUu-BOn4:au0p5PnxPUc:D7DqB2pKExk [31]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/universetoday/pYdq?a=eVOlUu-BOn4:au0p5PnxPUc:D7DqB2pKExk

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