NASA issues Constellation impact statement
The U.S. space agency issued an environmental impact statement for its Constellation Program that's aimed at returning humans to the moon by 2020.
The statement prepared by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration concludes that localized and global environmental impacts associated with implementing the program would be comparable to past or ongoing NASA activities.
The United States requires its federal agencies to prepare an impact statement for programs that might affect the quality of the environment. The Constellation Program components to be developed include the crew exploration, crew launch and cargo launch vehicles, as well as a lunar lander.
NASA said since the Constellation Program will be based largely upon components and facilities used by its space shuttle program, any potential environmental impacts are expected to be similar.
The complete environmental impact statement is available at
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/con … ation/main/peis.html.
Copyright 2008 by United Press International
