WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- NASA announced Tuesday at its headquarters that it has assigned new tasks about lunar exploration to the ten NASA centers around the nation, a major step for its "return to moon" project.

The center-by-center breakdown of assignments cover elements of the lunar lander and lunar surface operations. The federal space agency also announced work assignments for Ares V, a heavy-lift rocket for lunar missions.

The Ares V and lunar lander assignments will start up in fiscal year 2011, with lunar surface system assignments in fiscal year 2012.

"NASA's Constellation Program is making real progress toward sending astronauts to the moon," said Rick Gilbrech, NASA'S associate administrator for Exploration Systems.

"Work on our new fleet of rockets and spacecraft, Ares I and Orion, is already well under way. With these new assignments, NASA will launch the next phase of its exploration strategy -- landing crews and cargo on the surf...

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