Lunar sortie
A lunar sortie (or lunar sortie mission) is a human spaceflight mission to the Moon. In contrast with lunar outpost missions, lunar sorties will be of relatively brief duration.[1]
NASA sorties
On 4 December 2006, NASA announced a "Global Exploration Strategy" and lunar architecture that would implement the Vision for Space Exploration. The planned lunar missions would begin with four-person crews making several seven-day sortie missions to the moon until the power supplies, rovers and living quarters of an outpost are operational.[2]
Private lunar sorties
As of 2010[update], Space Adventures is a NewSpace company offering advance booking to allow private individuals to take a future lunar mission involving travel to circumnavigate the Moon. Pricing has been announced at US$100 million per seat. This mission will utilize two Russian launch vehicles. One Soyuz capsule will be launched into low-earth orbit by a Soyuz rocket. Once in orbit, the manned capsule will dock with a second, unmanned, lunar-propulsion module which will then power the circumlunar portion of the trip.[3] No time frame for the first mission has been announced.
References
- ^ "Lunar Orbit Insertion Targeting and Associated Outbound Mission Design for Lunar Sortie Missions" (PDF). NASA. 2007.
- ^ "NASA Unveils Global Exploration Strategy and Lunar Architecture". NASA. 2006.
- ^ Lunar Mission, SpaceAdventures website, undated, accessed 2010-05-24.
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