NASA to test new moon rocket

Nasa will test the powerful first stage of its new Ares moon rocket today, a milestone in a programme that already has spent $7bn (€4.9bn) for a rocket that astronauts may never use.

The $108bn (€75bn) programme to return to the moon by 2020 was started five years ago by then-President George W. Bush.

But a special independent panel commissioned by President Barack Obama concluded that the plan cannot work on the existing budget schedule.