NASA is taking on the tried and tested formula of the Apollo program that brought the first humans to the Moon way back in 1969, as they are faced with tight deadlines and uncertain budgets. The team has been ripping apart the Apollo to examine its ancient parts as a reference for the new rocket.

The new manned exploration project, called Constellation, is deliberately drawing upon lessons from the past as the space agency works to meet a congressional deadline of flying the Ares rocket by 2014. In fact, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has described the new program as "Apollo on steroids."

"We're not inventing rocket engines. This is an evolution," NASA associate administrator Scott Horowitz said during a visit to Marshall, which is in charge of developing propulsion systems for the new spacecraft. "You get the benefits of the heritage, but you also get the benefits of new technology to help drive down costs."

But will history repeat itself?

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, Associate Administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate Scott Horowitz and Constellation Program Manager Jeff Hanley will present the exploration program and the work being assigned to NASA centers. The media event will be held on June 5 at 2:30 p.m. at the NASA headquarters auditorium.

Those of you who can't make it can watch the news conference on the Web and NASA TV. During the briefing, reporters at participating NASA centers will have the chance to ask the three space head honchos some questions. To spice up the event reigning American Idol Taylor Hicks will perform a medley of songs with the words "space," "aliens," "rocketship," "planets," "stars" in the lyrics. We're kidding of course, just trying to spice up this article.