NASA is laying out the plan to send humans to an asteroid, launching from Florida’s Space Coast in the next decade or so.
The space agency has released new details about the plan, which includes moving an asteroid into the Moon's orbit.
NASA managers believe an asteroid will be a good stepping-stone to Mars.
The plan calls for using an unmanned, robotic spacecraft to capture a boulder from the surface of a near-Earth asteroid.
The space agency is already eying some asteroids, but a final selection won’t be made until 2019, a year before the robotic mission begins.
It will then take six years for the robot to move the asteroid bolder into the Moon’s orbit for closer inspection by humans.
In the mid-2020s, the Space Launch System rocket will launch from Kennedy Space Center with two astronauts inside the Orion capsule.
They’ll travel to the asteroid in lunar orbit.
The crewed mission is expected to last 24 to 25 days and during the mission the two astronauts will conduct spacewalks to collect asteroid samples.
NASA hopes they can learn more about how to better defend Earth from asteroids but they also hope the missions will help test new techniques needed for future human voyages to Mars.
That includes using sunlight to propel a spacecraft, a new docking system, and new spacesuits that can handle the harsh conditions of deep space.
The asteroid redirect mission isn't a done deal yet. It still needs money from a skeptical Congress. NASA is asking for $50 million for the program in the 2016 budget.