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Moonbase Armstrong: The Next U.S. Lunar Outpost?

May 21st, 2008
Author Tariq Malik

» Moonbase Armstrong: The Next U.S. Lunar Outpost?

The name of Apollo astronaut Neil Armstrong is etched into U.S. history books as the first human to walk on the moon, and it may be set for an encore.

A new bill, the NASA Authorization Act of 2008 (H.R. 6063), that cleared the House Science and Technology space and aeronautics subcommittee on Monday carries an interesting caveat. If passed into law, NASA apparently MUST name its first lunar outpost after Armstrong – the first human to set foot on another world during the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969.

Moonbase
An artist’s concept of an early Moon base under development. Credit: NASA/GRC.

So what do you call it? Well, there’s Moonbase Armstrong and Armstrong Base. Or NASA could take a page from the science fiction film “Star Trek: First Contact” and call it Lake Armstrong, though of course they’d have to build the lake indoors. Feel free to chime in with your suggestions with comments below.

NASA plans to return astronauts to the moon by 2020 under the agency’s Vision for Space Exploration, which includes completing construction of the International Space Station by 2010, retiring the three remaining U.S. space shuttles and replacing them with new Orion capsules that will launch atop Ares I rockets.

If ultimately passed, the NASA Authorization Act of 2008 calls for a $19.2 billion budget for NASA for 2009 - $1.6 billion more than the White House has requested. It would also give NASA an extra $1 billion to speed up Orion and Ares I development since they aren’t set to begin operational crewed flights until March 2015, well after the shuttle fleet retires. The bill also requires NASA to design a lunar outpost capable of operating unmanned for periods of time.

NASA has been looking for attractive lunar locales for a future moonbase, with one front-running contender being Shackleton Crater near the moon’s south pole, where water ice may hide in the constant shadows.

I wonder if Armstrong himself might be on hand for the ground breaking (or landing, as it were), if only via Earth-to-moon video.