NASA & Our Space Exploration

[The Source]

NASA & Our Space Exploration

As you may or may not know, NASA is working on a new-old way to travel back to the moon and beyond. After looking at Space.com, I thought it would be neat to look at some of their designs.

 

The current backwards (Regressive) idea they are working on:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/exploration/spacecraft/index.html

(This design is old school. 1960s.)

 

What they (somewhat) scrapped in 2001:

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/missions/x33_cancel_010301.html

(X33 - X45 - I have to say this was the coolest idea.)

What a lot of people do not know about this project is that the U.S. military stepped in, and decided to develop an X33 for tatical reasons. They have been working on this project for the past few years. What many people may not know, the U.S. military was also conserned about this design for another reason. The design is an exact match for the infamous Arura spy plane. There are currently 45 different variations to this series. NASA has tested over half in real life.

 

Gallery 1: http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagegallery/igviewer.php?imgid=1097&gid=86

 

Gallery 2: http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagegallery/igviewer.php?imgid=1047&gid=83&index=0

 

On a related topic:

If you ever want to see a list of Lockheed Martin's planes, check out this:

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/wms/findPage.do?dsp=fnec&ti=126&bs=0&es=B

(There is a menu on the left.)