APOLLO INSPIRES MISSION LUNAR LANDING PLAN UNVEILED.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - NASA administrator Mike Griffin unveiled a $104 billion plan Monday to return astronauts to the moon's surface by 2018, a plan that will likely involve flight tests and possibly even mission landings at Edwards Air Force Base.

Griffin unveiled a plan very similar to the Apollo moon missions of the 1960s and 1970s, only with more capability. The plan calls for placing four astronauts on the moon's surface instead of two and allowing them to stay there for four days to a week compared witho the three-day mission of Apollo 17.

``By and large the Apollo guys got it right,'' Griffin said of the similarities. ``Think of it as Apollo on steroids.''

The plan calls for two rockets to blast off from Earth. The first would carry a lunar lander, similar to the Apollo lunar lander, and an ``Earth departure'' stage needed to leave Earth's orbit.

Sometime within 30 days - perhaps as little as three days - after the first launch, a second rocket carrying astronauts in a capsule would blast off. The capsule and the lunar lander/departure stage would join up in orbit and then begin the journey to the moon.

As with Apollo, astronauts would leave the command capsule in orbit around the moon and climb into the lander for the descent to the surface. After landing and exploring the surface for up to seven days, the crew would blast off in a portion of the lander, dock with the capsule and travel back to Earth.

The capsule would land using parachutes to slow its descent. NASA expects that the capsule could land on either water or land.

During Griffin's presentation, he showed a concept that included a landing at Edwards.

The initial step in the plan is the development of a spacecraft known as the crew exploration vehicle. That vehicle's initial role will be to carry as many as six astronauts up to the International Space Station.

``In the first five or six years what we are really developing is the shuttle's successor - the crew exploration vehicle,'' Griffin said.

Lockheed Martin Corp. and a partnership between Northrop Grumman Corp. and Boeing Co. were selected by NASA to compete for the rights to develop the crew exploration vehicle. NASA plans to select a single contractor to build the spacecraft in 2006.

The spacecraft is expected to fly in 2012, two years after the shuttle fleet is retired.

``We suspect we will be involved in the developmental flight tests of the crew exploration vehicle,'' said Kevin Petersen, director of NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards.

Dryden could also be involved with flight-testing launch-abort systems and any type of systems needed for landings.

Dryden has been in touch with both teams, but there are no agreements yet in place, Petersen said.

Doug Young, Northrop Grumman's program manager for the crew exploration vehicle, said the team has been working on a capsule-type system prior to Griffin's announcement.

``Overall the approach is less risky. It's a simple approach,'' Young said. ``It's safe, simple and soon.''

At the urging of George and Sharon Runner, the Antelope Valley's husband-and-wife state legislators, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered the creation of a high-level team to look for ways to lure work on the program to California.

The Runners envision the team working to clear away bureaucratic hurdles, actively promote California's advantages to aerospace companies, and evaluate whether specific policy changes are necessary. The Runners believe that Air Force Plant 42, where the nation's space shuttle fleet was built, could handle work on the crew exploration vehicle.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com

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(ran in AV edition only) `APOLLO ON STEROIDS'

SOURCE: NASA

Associated Press