(Image source: Space.com)

BY EVAN THOMAS

ANCHOR LAUREN GORES

You're watching multisource global video news analysis from Newsy.

Two months after the last space shuttle mission, NASA is setting its sights back on orbit. On Wednesday it announced the next generation of space vehicle.

NASA spokespeople say the ‘Space Launch System’ will be the most powerful rocket ever built-- the finished version will lift more than the Apollo-era Saturn V. Former Shuttle Commander Charles Bolden explains.

“It will launch humans to places no one has gone before, such as asteroids, Mars, and other deep-space destinations... President Obama has challenged us to be bold and dream big, and that’s exactly what we’re doing at NASA.”

An unmanned prototype is scheduled to fly in 2017, and NASA says that maiden launch will cost $18 billion. But The Wall Street Journal points out the program will cost a lot more than that; $35 billion or more.

“The administration is trying to say that for the next six years, to get to the first unmanned test flight, it’ll cost about $18 billion.  They don’t really want to talk about the additional costs down the road for actually building more of these rockets, upgrading launch facilities and then actually building spacecraft able to land on moons or asteroids or maybe even Mars, down the road.”

And the BBC agrees: Only the later, more expensive versions will have the power NASA and Congress are looking for.

“...the 2017 maiden test flight will use a ‘lite’ variant, one capable of lifting about 70 tonnes to low-Earth orbit. Further work and expenditure will be required to develop a rocket capable of lifting more than 130 tonnes; the spec demanded by Congress.”

With a prototype still six years away, the Orlando Sentinel wonders if NASA is ready to commit to its rocket.

“What remains to be seen, however, is whether NASA can keep the new project on budget and maintain public support for a mission that won't launch a crew for a decade.”

Either way, the Nature News blog is happy to see NASA headed for space again-- especially with this price tag.

“...a 2021 test ... would put people in the Orion crew module that sits on top of the rocket. The programme would cost $3 billion a year to get to the test launch, less than the agency spent per year on the shuttle programme.”

NASA plans for the rocket to support missions to asteroids by 2025 and Mars by 2030.

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