Most recently, in NASA They said that they were carefully considering the proposal to build a space station beyond the Moon, which would act as a spacecraft for studying the moon, asteroids, and would eventually become the starting point for launching a manned flight to Mars.

Earth-Moon Lagrange 2 (EML-2) will be built in open space from parts of the International Space Station (ISS) at a distance of 277,000 miles (446,000 km) from Earth. The launch of the system (SLS) will take place in 2017 and will be used to send components for EML-2. In 2019, the launch of the Orion spacecraft is planned, which will transfer cargo and crew to the outpost.

Among the missions for EML-2 can be identified missions to study asteroids and robotic flights to the moon. The first samples will be delivered to Earth by 2022, and to 2030 году состоится пилотируемый полёт на Mars. Если проект EML-2 станции будет одобрен, NASA создаст пилотируемый форпост на самом большом расстоянии от Земли, на которое когда-либо путешествовало humanity.

Photogallery Total | 7 photos