NASA Expected To Unveil New Manned Moon Mission

11-09-2012 • http://www.businessinsider.com, Dina Spector

Space policy expert John Logsdon told Space.com's Mike Wall that plans to send humans to the far side of the moon have already been approved by the Obama administration, but were kept hush-hush in case Romney won Tuesday night's election.

The plan involves establishing a manned outpost about 38,000 miles from the moon in an area known as the Earth-moon libration point 2, or EML-2. This is a gravitationally stable spot, making it possible to "park" a spacecraft there, explains Wall. In other words, the station would stay put without much extra help.

Beyond allowing astronauts to explore deep space, the station would service as a holding pen for crew members so they could eventually do other things in space, like land on an asteroid (planned for 2025), visit Mars (planned for the mid-2030s), or head back to the moon.