The Orion will be the bigger, but younger, brother of Apollo. It will have the same multistage rocket, crew vehicle, and lunar lander--but bigger and more high tech of course. When asked why there are similarities between the two shuttles; Patrick McKenzie, the Business Development Manager for the Orion Project at Lockheed Space Systems, said that the Apollo shuttle got the aerodynamic shape of the capsule dead on; the shape has been proven safe by NASA.

However, there will be some major upgrade in technology under the hood. They are planning to build an automated rendezvous and docking capability. It will also have a new design and material for the heat shield. They'll be using materials such as PICA [phenolic impregnated carbon ablator] and SLA [a cork-based ablative material].

They're also looking forward to developing better landing-impact systems. The capsule will be bigger than Apollo's: it can seat six crew members. The cockpit has been replaced by a modern "glass cockpit" design. The avionics systems will be up to current technology.

No more "Houston, we have a problem." The Orion will have a "dual fault tolerance" element. Two failures in the system? The Orion will still run safely. The system constantly monitors the other; if one fails, another takes its place. It may add more weight to the vehicle, but it'll make it safer.

When asked about the gap between the last moon mission and 2020, Patrick answers that the budget for lunar missions these days aren't that big as the last mission. He added that they are still in the process of developing the lunar lander, the Earth-departure stage, and lift vehicles.

So in 2020, we'll be grooving and jiving to the 60's Apollo look-alike Orion as it pushes itself from Earth's atmosphere to the moon.