Posada Oriona prilazi svemirskoj stanici

Grupa nezavisnih svemirskih eksperata Bele kuće izrazila je ozbiljne sumnje u mogućnost da NASA u skorije vreme pošalje svoje astronaute na Mesec, ili im organizuje put na Mars. Ocenjeno je da trenutni godišnji budžet te agencije, od 18 milijardi dolara, jednostavno nije dovoljan za finansiranje bilo kakvih misija koje bi zahtevale napuštanje planete Zemlje.

Čujte prilog

Five years ago President Bush set out his lofty vision of sending astronauts back to the Moon by the year 2020. It was meant to be the staging post for the next frontier - a manned landing on Mars. Now a panel of space experts says that's pretty much pie in the sky.

Their report, commissioned by President Obama, says the current US human spaceflight programme appears to be on an unsustainable trajectory. It suggests the only way forward is to increase the funding of NASA by billions of dollars, or to co-operate with private companies now embarking on commercial space flights.

The panel says visits to Near-Earth Objects such as asteroids are far more realistic too. The experts also argue for keeping the International Space Station going till 2020, rather than pulling the plug in six years' time.

Jonathan Beale, BBC News, Washington

Čujte reči

set out
namerili, isplanirali, odlučili da sprovedu

lofty vision
ambiciozan plan

staging post
usputne stanice (npr. Mesec tokom puta ka Marsu, itd.)

next frontier
deo kosmosa koji nije ranije istražen

a panel
panel stručnjaka, grupa eksperata

pie in the sky
izraz se koristi za stvari za koje je vrlo malo verovatno da će se dogoditi

on an unsustainable trajectory
na putu koji ne može biti kompletiran ili ostvaren u celini, neostvariv plan

embarking
novi početak, otisnuti se

asteroids
asteroidi, stenoviti komadi koji se kreću u krug po Sunčevom sistemu

pulling the plug
prekinuti, završiti, ne nastaviti nešto