Back to the moon [space NASA anniversary]

This year marks NASA's 50th anniversary. Piers Bizony looks at the venerable space agency's plans for a return to the Moon. Can old glories be revived? From now on, Nasa's principal task is to "undertake extended human missions to the Moon, with the goal of living and working there. With the experience and knowledge gained on the Moon, we will then be ready to take the next steps of space exploration: human missions to Mars and to worlds beyond". The ageing space shuttle system will be retired from flight in the year 2010, and a new spacecraft, the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), known as Orion, will take centre stage.