It's been 40 years since man has stepped foot on the Moon, and if all goes as planned, space exploration experts anticipate NASA will be announcing more manned missions to outer space very soon.
According to Space.com, NASA has been planning to set up a manned outpost beyond the Moon's far side, which would "establish a human presence in deep space and to build momentum toward a planned visit to an asteroid in 2025."
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"NASA has been evolving its thinking, and its latest charts have inserted a new element of cislunar/lunar gateway/Earth-moon L2 sort of stuff into the plan," space policy expert John Logsdon, a professor emeritus at George Washington University told Space.com.
According to Logsdon, NASA had been holding off on announcing more announcements until after the election -- the Obama Administration cleared plans for manned missions to the Moon, but Romney had probably promised to reassess NASA's mission.
A year ago, NASA announced it was recruiting new astronauts for missions and research. Since, NASA scientists have sent a rover to Mars and have discovered and released data that inspire more missions for decades.
"For 50 years, American astronauts have led the exploration of our solar system," NASA administrator Charles Bolden said in webcasted national press conference. "Today we are getting a glimpse of why that will remain true for the next half-century. Make no mistake about it, human space flight is alive and well at NASA."
