NASA has decided to name the new vehicle that will actually carry humans to the surface of the Moon Altair. Altair flows from Arabic and, roughly translated, means "the flying one."
Altair is also the name of one of the brightest stars in Earth's sky, which is the alpha star of the constellation Aquila, The Eagle, harkening back to the name given to Apollo 11's lunar module.
Where the Apollo LMs could only support two people for a short period (Apollo 13 notwithstanding), Altair will be a much more substantial craft. It will carry four astronauts and be able to support them on the lunar surface for several days.
Now, Altair needs to be designed and built. NASA is looking for contractors now. The goal is to land humans on the Moon again before 2020.
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