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09/20/2005:

"US to send four astronauts to moon in 2018"

The United States will send four astronauts to the moon in 2018 in a return to its pioneering manned mission into space, NASA administrator Michael Griffin announced.

NASA is to design a new rocket based on the technology from its ageing shuttles that are to be retired in 2010, Griffin said Monday. The new rocket could be orbiting in space by 2014.

The last manned mission to the moon was the Apollo 17 rocket in 1972. But the new mission will enable preparations to set up a permanent base on the moon, Griffin said Monday.

The NASA chief estimated the cost of the moon programme at 104 billion dollars.

He said the new rocket would be "very Apollo-like, with updated technology. Think of it as Apollo on steroids."
news.yahoo.com