Article Posted on : - Oct 23, 2009

A File Photo.

WASHINGTON (BNS): A special independent US panel has said that NASA's plan to revisit the moon is a “wrong mission” with the “wrong rocket”.

The US panel, headed by Norman Augustine, is reviewing the space agency's spaceflight plans.

Augustine has said it makes more sense for NASA to consider landing on a nearby asteroid or one of the moons of Mars. “That could be done sooner than returning to the moon in 15 years as NASA has outlined,” he said.

Augustine's panel was created by the White House. The group's 155-page report on NASA's future offers eight options and leaves the choice to President Barack Obama.