Man may be back on Moon by 2010

Press, 5 November 1984, Page 32

Man may be back on Moon by 2010

NZPA-Reuter Washington American astronauts could return to the Moon’s surface by the year 2010, this time to set up a permanent space station, predicted the head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. N.A.S.A. administrator, James Beggs, made the prediction at a N.A.S.A. seminar on “Lunar Bases and Space Activities in the twenty-first Century.”

A former astronaut, Harrison Schmitt, told the seminar that he believed the Soviet Union might try to land an astronaut on Mars or attempt a manned orbit of Mars by October, 1992, to mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Russian revolution.

. Mr Beggs said, “I believe it is highly likely that, before the first decade of the next century is out, we will

indeed return to the Moon. “We will do so not only to mine its oxygen-rich rocks and other resources, but to establish an outpost for further exploration and expansion of human activities in the solar system in particular on Mars and the near Earth asteroids.” President Reagan earlier this year announced plans for N.A.S.A. to build a permanent space station which would enable astronauts to travel out as far as the Moon and inner planets.

Mr Schmitt said that all -available data indicated that the Soviet Union was gearing up “to’ establish their sovereignty in deep space and on Mars.” He said that although the Russians had made no official announcement an orbit or landing on Mars by 1992 “is not only possible, it is highly probable.” -