NASA Can't Afford to Visit Moon by 2020

Paul Allen project might be ready for tests in 2016

(NEWSER) - The world's biggest plane, with wings longer than a football field, is being built to launch astronauts and cargo into outer space. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and aerospace innovator Burt Rutan have teamed up to create the gargantuan aircraft, which will work by hauling a rocket high into the air and then blasting it into space, thus bypassing the need for a launch pad and saving on fuel, reports AP . They unveiled their plans yesterday. More»

Calif. aims to preserve Apollo urine containers, space boots

(NEWSER) - California has named the remains of the Apollo 11 mission—including urine containers and space boots—a state historical resource. Experts in the nascent field of space archeology worry that, without preservation, what they call a "sacred site of world history" might be looted by future missions or space tourists. "Can you imagine someone driving a cart over Neil Armstrong's first footprint?" one asks—or pieces of Apollo 11 on eBay? More»

(NEWSER) - Forty years ago today Neil Armstrong strode across the surface of the moon and became the most famous man in the galaxy. Then he disappeared—leaving NASA for a university job, attending almost no public functions, and refusing nearly all interview requests. "Neil was very much the same person after Apollo 11 as he was before it," a space historian tells the Washington Post. "The pragmatism, the modesty, the shyness were there from an early age." More»

Astro put tiny poetic spin on script

(NEWSER) - Stressed out Neil Armstrong flubbed his line as he became the first human to step on the moon—and turned it into out-of-this-world poetry, reports the BBC. The astronaut was supposed to say: "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind," as he walked onto the moon in 1969. But he dropped the "a" in the pre-scripted phrase penned by NASA. More»

He gives rare interview ... to Australian accountants

(NEWSER) - Fans of the space program are in for a treat: The normally reticent Neil Armstrong sat down for an hourlong interview about that moon landing of his with, of all outlets, the Certified Practicing Accountants of Australia. Some highlights:

• 50-50: "I thought we had a 90% chance of getting back safely to Earth on that flight but only a 50-50 chance of making a landing on that first attempt. There were so many unknowns ..."
• Close call: When Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the moon's surface in the Eagle, the on-board computer was guiding them toward a rocky, steep area. "Not a good place to land at all," says Armstrong. "I took over manually and flew it like a helicopter out to the west direction, got into a smoother area without so many rocks and found a level area and was able to get it down there safely before we ran out of fuel." There was "something like 20 seconds of fuel left."