NASAs newly planned space craft that will take over the Space Shuttles duties is called the CEV or Crew Exploration Vehicle. You gotta love acronyms... It looks a lot like what NASA used in it's glory days durring the Apollo missions. It will be used to take crews of three and cargo back and forth to the ISS. However, it is stated that the CEV has the capacity to carry up to six crew members. It also has the capacity to carry four crewmembers to orbit the moon. You might be wondering why we can't just use the shuttle to go to the moon. Well the shape fo the shuttle is not very effective shape(i.e. the wings), and after coming back from the moon it's speed would reach 25,000 mph. Which would grealtly exceed it's max speed of 17,500 mph. One of the main tasks of the Shuttle was to be somewhat like a delivery truck for the ISS, and now that the ISS is close to completion it is time to move on.
I'm very excited about these new developments, because it brings NASA one step closer to going back to the moon. Astablishing a lunar base, and eventually going to Mars. Check out NASA's website for more information.
-KJW
