Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people

— Carl Sagan

Man on the Moon, Future and Past

With two currently functioning orbiters, and five more missions planned in the next year, Earth's Moon may soon have seven active probes operated by five nations, with even more coming soon. NASA's plans to return humans to the Moon by 2020 are moving steadily ahead, with some concrete prototypes and initial designs beginning to emerge. Called the Constellation Program, NASA's vision involves new and upgraded launch vehicles, exploration vehicles, autonomous rovers, new spacesuits, crew and cargo vehicles, and much more. Here are seven photographs of our possible future on the Moon, and a look back, with ten images from our last visits with the Apollo missions, more than 36 years ago now.

See pix :

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/07/man_on_the_moon_future_and_pas....