by James Burk
MarsNews.com

(Courtesy NASA/John Frassanito & Associates)

Long in the planning stages, it seems the next-generation NASA Exploration Team (NExT) effort is finally coming to light. The first step is the establishment of an "L1 Gateway" space station 85% of the way to the moon, currently scheduled around the year 2012.

Once that L1 station is established, and a return to the Moon achieved, a human mission to Mars could be underway around the 2018 Earth-Mars opportunity.

Significantly, this initial plan has been endorsed by the Bush White House's Office of Management & Budget (OMB). A more official announcement on these plans from NASA officials is set for the World Space Congress in Houston on Oct 10-19.

Visit the Mars NewsWire for a must-read article on NExT from Space.com. We have also prepared a slideshow of new NASA Mars renderings from John Frassanito & Associates.

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Image Slideshow

Posted by jburk at September 26, 2002 12:00 PM | TrackBack