NASA lunar outpost concepts

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has proposed several concept moonbases for achieving a permanent presence of humans on the Moon since the late 1950s.[5] Heinz-Hermann Koelle, a German rocket engineer of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) led the Project Horizon study.On 8 June 1959, the US Army's Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) organized a task force called Project Horizon to assess the feasibility of constructing a military base on the Moon.Project Horizon proposed using a series of Saturn[6] launches to pre-construct an outpost while in Earth orbit, with the intention of subsequently delivering and landing the completed assembly on the Moon.The program was not able to get off the ground as it was proposed at the end of SEI's very short lifespan with the only surviving project being Space Station Freedom (now the International Space Station) The Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS) is the official title of a large-scale, system-level study released by NASA in November 2005 in response to American president George W. Bush's announcement on 14 January 2004 of his goal of returning astronauts to the Moon and eventually Mars— known as the Vision for Space Exploration (and unofficially as "Moon, Mars and Beyond" in some aerospace circles, though the specifics of a human "beyond" program were vague).At a presentation on 4 December 2006, Doug Cooke, Deputy Associate Administrator, NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, described an area "that is ... sunlit ... 75 to 80 percent of the time, and it is adjacent to a permanently dark region in which there is potentially volatiles that we can extract and use.As planned, an incremental buildup would begin with four-person crews making several seven-day visits to the moon until their power supplies, rovers and living quarters were operational.Proposals were selected and contracts awarded in August 2008 by the NASA Constellation Lunar Surface Systems Project Office (LSSPO).The Artemis program is a planned crewed spaceflight program carried out predominately by NASA, U.S. commercial spaceflight companies, and international partners such as the European Space Agency (ESA), JAXA, and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) with the goal of landing "the first woman and the next man" on the Moon, specifically at the lunar south pole region by 2026.NASA sees Artemis as the next step towards the long-term goal of establishing a sustainable presence on the Moon, laying the foundation for private companies to build a lunar economy, and eventually sending humans to Mars."[24] The Los Angeles Times seconded that in an editorial, saying "Manned moon flight may appeal to baby boomers, but it makes little scientific sense for most space missions these days.Worse, moon-base nonsense may for decades divert NASA resources from the agency's legitimate missions, draining funding from real needs in order to construct human history's silliest white elephant.Buzz Aldrin, the second of twelve men to have walked on the Moon, disagrees with NASA's current goals and priorities, including their plans for a lunar outpost.While not necessarily opposed to sending people back to the Moon, Aldrin argues that NASA should concentrate on a human mission to Mars and leave further lunar exploration and the establishment of a base there to a consortium of other countries under U.S.
Concept art from NASA showing astronauts entering a lunar outpost. (2006)
The LREC lunar outpost
Concept art of Artemis Base Camp
National Aeronautics and Space Administrationmoonbasespermanent presence of humans on the MoonApollo programMoon landinglow Earth orbitanother crewed mission to the MoonArtemis programLunex ProjectUS Air ForceAir Force BaseProject HorizonUnited States ArmyHeinz-Hermann KoelleArmy Ballistic Missile AgencySaturn IsSaturn C-2sBallistic Missile Agencymilitary baseSaturnSpace ShuttleJohnson Space CenterSpace Exploration InitiativeFirst Lunar OutpostInternational Lunar Resources Exploration ConceptPresident George H. W. Bush'sSpace Exploration Initiative (SEI)Soviet UnionSpace Station FreedomInternational Space StationExploration Systems Architecture StudyGeorge W. BushastronautsVision for Space ExplorationLunar Architecturewater iceShackleton craterSouth Pole-Aitken basinWashington MallChandrayaan-1Peary craterMalapert craterSolar powerUnpressurized roversIn-Situ Resource UtilizationAltairBarack Obamaspace policyUnited States CongressNeil A. Armstrongroverscrewed spaceflight programcommercial spaceflight companiesEuropean Space AgencyCanadian Space Agencylunar south poleSLS Block 1BArtemis Support MissionMoon's south polarArtemis IIIHuman Landing SystemsLunar Gatewaylunar orbitCongressMichael D. GriffinJeff Foustrobotic missionsbaby boomersGregg Easterbrookwhite elephantSolar Systemspace probesspace observatoriesnear-Earth asteroidsBuzz Aldrinhuman mission to MarsLunar Architecture (NASA)Project ConstellationLunar Reconnaissance OrbiterColonization of the MoonWayback MachineBibcodeLibrary of CongressSpace NewsWashington PostLos Angeles TimesPopular MechanicsApollo Lunar BaseJSC Moon BaseLunar OutpostArtemis Base CampZvezda moonbaseLunar Expeditionary ComplexEnergia Lunar ExpeditionLunny PoligonInternational Lunar Research StationMan Will Conquer Space Soon!Artemis ProjectHuman Lunar ReturnChinese Lunar BaseJAXA Moon BaseSinus RorisEratosthenesSinus MediiMontes ApenninusKeplerShackletonMoonbaseExploration of the MoonTourism on the Moon