Despite speculation to the contrary, NASA's ambitious plans for a manned space station beyond the moon have not yet been cleared by the White House, a senior administration official told SPACE.com. <\/p>\n
Over the past year or so, NASA has been drawing up plans for a manned outpost beyond the moon's far side, at a gravitationally stable location known as the Earth-moon Lagrange point 2 (EM-L2). The station would establish a human presence in deep space, serve as a staging ground for lunar operations and help build momentum for exploring more far-flung destinations, such as asteroids and Mars. <\/p>\n
Word about the potential outpost has begun leaking out in press reports and from space exploration officials over the last several months, [s1]leading some experts to suspect that the White House may already be on board and that an official announcement could be coming soon, especially since President Barack Obama won re-election on Nov. 6. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
But such speculation is inaccurate, said the official, who was not authorized to speak on the record. <\/p>\n
Where should the first permanent space colony be built? <\/p>\n
NASA has not cleared the EM-L2 outpost with the White House, and the space agency has not requested funding for it in the current fiscal year or the subsequent one, the official told SPACE.com. <\/p>\n
\"So it's kind of just one of those one-off projects that [NASA hopes if it goes] to the press, or to [Capitol] Hill, that it'll get funded,\" the official added. \"But I don't think that's going to be the case.\" <\/p>\n
NASA would rely on its Orion crew capsule and huge Space Launch System rocket both of which are under development to build and staff the outpost at EM-L2. The agency wants the capsule-rocket combo to be ready to carry astronauts by 2021. <\/p>\n
An EM-L2 space station could serve as a stepping stone to near-Earth asteroids and Mars, two destinations that are officially on NASA's docket. In 2010, Obama directed the space agency to get astronauts to a space rock by 2025, then on to the vicinity of the Red Planet by the mid-2030s. <\/p>\n
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Continue reading here: Despite speculation to the contrary, NASA's ambitious plans for a manned space station beyond the moon have not yet been cleared by the White House, a senior administration official told SPACE.com. Over the past year or so, NASA has been drawing up plans for a manned outpost beyond the moon's far side, at a gravitationally stable location known as the Earth-moon Lagrange point 2 (EM-L2). Continue reading
\nNASA's Deep-Space Station Idea Lacks White House Approval<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"