Artists impression of the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle. Credit: NASA <\/p>\n
Published: Nov. 19, 2012 at 5:36 PM<\/p>\n
LONDON, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- European plans to join the United States in building a manned spaceship could see a British astronaut in space before the end of the decade, officials said. <\/p>\n
A meeting of ministers of the European Space Agency's 20 member states in Italy this week will consider a proposal to join in the construction of the four-person U.S. Orion space capsule. <\/p>\n
\"Europeans will have the power to put men and women into space,\" Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general of the European Space Agency, told Britain's The Observer newspaper in an interview. \"That would be a fantastic development for us.\" <\/p>\n
\"Britain has already indicated support,\" he said. <\/p>\n
One candidate astronaut is Britain's Tim Peake, selected three years ago for European astronaut training. <\/p>\n
While Peake's best chance of space flight would be a mission to the International Space Station, he and his European astronaut colleagues could have the opportunity of a deep space flight if Europe joins the Orion program. <\/p>\n
The Orion capsule, intended to carry astronauts on missions of up to six months, could take crews to the moon, an asteroid or possibly even eventually to Mars. <\/p>\n
No single nation can now afford to conduct a program of manned space exploration on its own, Dordain said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
See the original post:<\/p>\n
Europe, U.S. talk space program link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Artists impression of the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle. Continue reading