BUY ME TO THE MOON; NASA unveil pounds 55bn bid for lunar landing.

Byline: By Victoria Ward

SPACE agency NASA have unveiled a pounds 55billion mission to put men back on the moon by 2018.

They hope four astronauts will spend a week on the lunar surface - the first trip since the Apollo 17 landing in 1972.

And the ultimate goal is a mission to Mars using the moon as a base - a plan outlined by US president George Bush last year.

The new programme will be based on rockets similar to the Saturn 5 used in the Apollo missions.

NASA administrator Michael Griffin said two rockets would be used - one for the crew with an Apollo-type capsule on top and a larger one for cargo.

He said: "Think of it as Apollo on steroids.

"It will be big enough to allow cargo to be taken to the moonand left there for future missions." The design will eventually replace the NASA shuttle fleet, but not before 2012.

Mr Griffin added: "It's a significant advancement over Apollo.

"Much of it looks the same, but that's because the physics of atmospheric entry haven't changed recently.

"We really proved once again how much of it the Apollo guys got right."

The new rocket is expected to be far safer than the space shuttles because the crew capsule can be blasted clear in the event of an explosion or fire.

NASA bosses said the price tag, spread over 13 years, is just over half of what Apollo cost in equivalent terms over eight years.

Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon in 1969.

A total of 12 astronauts have landed on the surface during six moon missions in three years

CAPTION(S):

ROCKET SCIENCE: How the cargo launcher and the landing craft would look; DOWN TO EARTH: The crew module, with airbags