Aries Spaceship May Find Signs Of Alien Existence

When Neil Armstrong and Ewin "Buzz" Aldrin took their first steps on the surface of the moon in 1969, very few people knew that they saw much more than dust and rocks. The astronauts' historical landing in the Apollo II spacecraft uncovered something they sure didn't expect.
I remember that event, because I was home on July 21 of that year pregnant with my first daughter. One of the astronauts mentioned a light in or on a crater during the televised transmission. It is now known that ex-NASA employee, Otto Binder overheard an exchange between Neil Armstrong and mission control.
"These babies are huge, sir! Enormous! Oh my God! You wouldn't believe it. I'm telling you there are other spacecraft out there, lined up on the far side of the crater's edge. They're on the moon watching us!"
However, it was not until 1979 that Maurice Chatelain, former chief of NASA's communications systems confirmed that this really happened.
On July 4, the space shuttle Discovery makes its way to the International Space Station, which President George Bush expects to be completed by 2010. The next goal is to send a manned spaceship back to the moon, as early as 2015. The crew launch vehicle will be called Ares I and the cargo launch vehicle, Ares V. Ares is the Greek god associated with Mars and the I and V pay homage to the Apollo-era Saturn I and V rockets.  The crew exploration vehicle has yet to be named. Work has already begun on the new spacecraft under NASA's Constellation Program.
The plan begins with a robotic mission to the moon by 2008. When the manned mission finally launches at Kennedy Space Center some time between 2015 and 2020, one certainly has to wonder what these astronauts will find this time around and will they have the chance to interact with other space travelers? Ian Crawford, a researcher from the University of London's Birkbeck College in the UK believes they might very well find pieces of technology left behind by alien civilizations. Though he does consider it a "long shot," he told New Scientist that it would definitely be something the astronauts should look for. He added that the new mission would allow them to really take a better look than the astronauts on that first mission so long ago.
So far, SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence), with its large radio telescopes scanning the skies has been the only organization actively seeking signals (signs) of alien life in the universe. Senior SETI astronomer, Seth Shostak says that search should now extend to the moon, as there could be small artifacts, probes or even time capsules there. However, he also expressed reservations about finding anything.
NASA's Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecrafts carry metal plaques showing its time and place of origin. Voyager I and II carried gold-plated records (pictures bearing messages, and images and sounds depicting earth), in the hopes that extraterrestrials might find them some day. Some researchers believe that space travelers from other places might have done the same. Whatever they find, the exploration of space is still a totally new frontier and one thing is for sure: exciting times are ahead. The president's goal is to eventually place humans on the moon for extended periods of time, just like those on the space station. From there, he says, the moon can be used as a stepping-stone to expand exploration even further in space.