Forty years after man first walked on the moon, European astronauts have that great, glowing sphere in the sky back in sight. With several successes under its belt, Europe's dream of its own expedition to the moon is looking more realistic than ever.

Europe's most ambitious spacecraft to date is the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), which can deliver up to ten tons of material to the International Space Station. But the ATV can only carry material into space – and not the other way around, from space to Earth.

Evert Dudok, the president of EADS Astrium, a subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, says that transporting material to Earth could be made possible. He says that the current ATV, which is relatively cylindrical, would be replaced with a capsule structure, which would then return to Earth, just like with the Apollo missions.

"The speed would be slowed with parachutes and then it would land in the ocean," he says.

The biggest technical hurdle facing the Europeans is the development of a heat shield to keep the capsule from burning up as it re-enters the atmosphere. However, there are already draft designs, and there are plans to transport people in the capsules too.

Independent European expeditions

The transport of people could open the way for Europeans to launch their own missions, and avoid having to depend on the United States or Russia to send astronauts into space.

Jan Woerner, the head of the German Aerospace Center, says it would only require a little more effort for Europe to close the gap with the US and Russia.

"A further development on this level would of course mean that we clearly position ourselves as a partner for future space travel missions," he says.

"In this respect, I think it's very important that we can tackle this step now."

Germans on the moon

Germany has put its planned moon mission on hold due to budget constraints, but interest from researchers has certainly not gone away. Former German astronaut Ernst Messerschmid says there are still many unanswered questions about the moon, even after the Apollo missions.

"Apollo was almost too fast and too successful and kept all other initiatives to go back to the moon at bay," he says.

"Basically the next logical step after the space station is, of course, a trip back to the moon," he says.

And when that next trip to the moon takes place, Europeans hope they will go along for the ride.

Author: Dirk Lorenzen (hf/ca)
Editor: Trinity Hartman