Image copyright NASA Image caption In this image, NASA’s Orion spacecraft with the Orion Exploration Mission-1 spacecraft is seen atop a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy rocket
The first deep space flight with a crew is planned for 2022, NASA has announced.
The mission aims to fly astronauts on a 400km-deep lunar flyby to test technologies for a manned Mars mission.
NASA said it plans to launch two Orion crew exploration vehicles, with astronauts on board, in the early 2020s.
A series of flybys of the moon followed by flights to the space station have been proposed, along with missions to Mars by 2035.
The Orion missions would replace the aging space shuttle fleet, which is due to retire this year.
Manned moon missions have been scheduled since the 1970s but, following the success of the shuttle programme, NASA opted for a more rapid space travel plan which will make the trip from Earth’s moon to Mars far less arduous.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said the programme would provide the technology needed to compete in the rapidly changing commercial space industry.
Image copyright NASA Image caption Asteroid missions could also be undertaken by 2024, with the eventual goal of getting to Mars
“With today’s announcement, NASA is taking the boldest step yet towards colonising our solar system,” he said.
“The exploration journey to Mars will be a journey of discovery and it will take all of us — from our citizens in the present, to our astronauts in the distant future — to reach that destination.”
In the next few years, NASA hopes to complete a technology demonstration to test ground instruments and to develop techniques to help the space agency communicate with Orion when going to and from the space station.
The US space agency is expected to pay companies to send cargo to the space station.
Originally proposed to begin during President Bush’s administration, the Moon missions are intended to provide a confidence-building precursor to missions to Mars, which NASA has said should be completed by 2035.
NASA is also planning a mission to collect samples of an asteroid in 2025, with the hope of using them to find out more about the origins of the solar system.
Whether the first exploratory flight beyond Earth will be in the form of a lander or spacecraft remains to be decided.
Originally proposed to begin during President Bush’s administration, the Moon missions are intended to provide a confidence-building precursor to missions to Mars, which NASA has said should be completed by 2035.
NASA is also planning a mission to collect samples of an asteroid in 2025, with the hope of using them to find out more about the origins of the solar system.
