Back To The Moon

This NASA animation shows the new lunar exploration architecture. It's similar to Apollo, with these major differences:

(1) Crew of four vs. three

(2) Two launchers - Ares V for the lunar lander and Earth Departure Stage, and Ares 1 for the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle - rather than everything in a single launch

(3) All four astronauts descend to the lunar surface. Unlike Apollo, Orion will be left unmanned.

(4) Touchdown on dry land, not water.

This "Apollo on steroids" approach pisses off Burt Rutan and others who would like to see NASA get out of the business of designing and building spacecraft and just buy services from the private sector. But there are a lot of jobs spread all across America based on Shuttle, and a Shuttle-derived architecture will keep those people employed. That in turn generates political support for NASA. Don't get me wrong - NASA is one of the few government agencies where we actually get something for our money, but there are still some pork-barrel aspects to NASA's congressional support. Given the political realities, I think their current plan is about the best that can be done.