Johnson Space Center loses out on lunar lander job

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA picked Alabama’s “Rocket City” on Friday to lead development of the next moon lander for astronauts.

Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville beat out Johnson Space Center in Houston, which managed the Apollo lunar lander a half-century ago.

The new lunar lander — not yet built or even designed — is meant to carry an American woman and a man to the moon’s south pole by 2024. Under the plan, the astronauts will depart for the surface from a small space station around the moon and return there.