Altair lunar lander
2 of 13 from NASA dims lights for Constellation program (photos)
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Along with Orion, the Constellation program included the Altair lunar lander (seen here in an artist's rendering) and the Ares family of rockets.
"The program was planning to use an approach similar to Apollo to return astronauts to the moon some 50 years after that program's triumphs," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement Monday (PDF). "The Augustine Commission observed that this path was not sustainable, and the president agrees. They found (with) Constellation, key milestones were slipping and that the program would not get us back to the moon in any reasonable time or within any affordable cost."
February 1, 2010 3:26 PM PST
Photo by: NASA
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