[本刊综合报道]2005年9月19日,美国国家航空航天局(NASA)局长迈克尔·格里芬公布美国最新航天计划。根据计划,美国将耗资1040亿美元于2018年前将4名宇航员送上月球;此后将逐步在月球上建立一个宇航员常驻基地,在此基础上最终实现6名宇航员登陆火星并在火星上常驻500天。同时,NASA也首次描述了下一步载人航天计划的初步构想。鉴于航天飞机将于2010年退役,NASA已选定用航天飞机外挂燃料箱、固体 [On September 19, 2005, NASA chief Michael Griffin announced the latest US space program. According to the plan, the United States will spend 104 billion U.S. dollars to send 4 astronauts to the moon by 2018; thereafter, a permanent astronaut base will be gradually established on the moon, on the basis of which 6 astronauts will finally land on Mars and at Mars on the 500 days. At the same time, NASA also for the first time described the initial concept of the next manned space program. In view of the space shuttle to be decommissioned in 2010, NASA has selected the space shuttle plug-in fuel tank, solid