posted
Well, maybe not on the moon, but possibly in orbit. According to this article, one company has suggested that it may be possible to modify Soyuz capsules and send them on a trip around the moon.
quote: a Soyuz spacecraft that had completed its half-year stay at the ISS would undock from the station and dock with the logistics module. The upper stage attached to the other end of the logistics module then fires, sending the complete spacecraft on a free-return circumlunar trajectory. The upper stage is jettisoned after the translunar injection burn, leaving the Soyuz and logistics module to complete the six-day round-trip mission. Back at Earth, the Soyuz return module separates from the rest of the spacecraft, as normal, and performs a double-dip reentry to handle the higher velocity of returning from the Moon.
Presumably this would be useful for mapping the far side of the moon, but it looks like the main application may be space tourism.
Posts: 3546 | Registered: Jul 2002
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
