Quote: Paul W @ May 18 2008, 11:11 AM BSTIf all goes well America are believed to be trying for the moon within the next 20 years, which would be great.
And china are believed to be sending a probe to the moon to take detailed picutes of the surface, so that would prove if there are the original pods/ flags on the surface.
Apollo 12 landed very close to the Surveyor 3 spacecraft, photographed it and brought a piece of it back to Earth, but I guess there's no pleasing conspiracy theorists.
There's no shortage of moon-related missions on the horizon. India will be sending the Chandrayaan satellite to orbit the moon in July. The U.S. will launch the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in November. LRO's cameras will be able to photograph the Apollo sites and will almost certainly do so. And China is marching along to an eventual manned landing on the moon.
If you act quickly you can have your name recorded on a microchip that will be placed on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter: