This is really underway, everything we have prayed for as fans of Nasa's golden era, we the ones, who watched humans walk on the moon r/t, and have waited for this day since the last flight of Apollo 17.
The day that made me have tears in eyes once more, im just beside myself.

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Thanks to Keith Cowing at Nasa Watch

Back to the Moon - Better The Second Time Around

A group of NASA officials briefed a panel at the National Academy of Sciences last week on Administrator Mike Griffin's revamped exploration plans. The panel being briefed was part of the Academy's Space Studies Board - one organized to review NASA's plans for the International Space Station.
Sizing the Hardware: Working Backwards From Mars

Connolly went into some new detail on the evolution of the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV). While the first destination for NASA is a return to the moon, listening to the speakers, Mars is clearly the eventual destination. Indeed, Connolly noted that the sizing of the CEV, its launcher, and the heavy launch vehicle - both developed from modified Space Shuttle hardware - was done to support eventual missions to Mars. Previous studies at NASA have pointed toward the need for a Mars ship of perhaps 200 metric tons - a vehicle assembled in orbit from perhaps two heavy launch vehicle flights.

In developing this new architecture, Connolly noted that he and his coworkers ahd become "students of history" (Apollo) and that they had enlisted the advice of space veterans such as Apollo era Deputy NASA Administrator Robert Seamans, former Apollo astronaut John Young, and former flight director Jay Greene.

In addition to the heavy launcher, the CEV itself was sized for a role in a Mars mission - with all lunar and earth orbit applications worked backward from those downstream capabilities. The CEV can carry up to 6 crew to the ISS (3 is the normal), 4 crew to the Moon, and 6 as part of a Mars mission.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1069

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PRESS RELEASE
Date Released: Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Source: Northrop Grumman Corporation

Northrop Grumman-Boeing Team Unveils Plans for Crew Exploration Vehicle

Crew Exploration Vehicle ensures safe, reliable travel to Space Station, moon, Mars

WASHINGTON D.C. – Oct. 12, 2005 – A Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC)-The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) team today unveiled its plans to design and build NASA's proposed Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), a modular space system intended to carry humans to the International Space Station by 2012 and back to the moon by 2018.

The CEV comprises a crew module that builds on NASA's Apollo spacecraft, a service module and a launch-abort system. It is designed to be carried into space aboard a shuttle-derived launch vehicle – a rocket based on the solid rocket booster technology that powers the early phases of current shuttle flights.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18022

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Earlier this year, NASA awarded a $28 million Phase 1 contract to the Northrop Grumman-Boeing team to perform trade studies for the development of a human-rated spacecraft. The CEV, a successor to the space shuttle, is expected to carry astronauts to the moon, Mars and beyond in coming decades. NASA plans to award a Phase 2 contract to design and build the CEV to a single contractor team in spring 2006.