Bush Sets Sights on Human Voyages to Moon, Mars

WASHINGTON, DC, January 14, 2004 (ENS) - President George W. Bush today called for establishment of a permanent base on the moon no later than 2020, followed by human missions to Mars and worlds beyond.

In a speech at the headquarters of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in Washington, Bush observed that no human being has set foot on another world in the past 30 years and said it is time to "set a new course" for America's space program.

President George W. Bush outlines his new space exploration policy. (Photo by Eric Draper courtesy The White House)

To dramatize the announcement, Commander of the International Space Station Michael Foale welcomed the President during a live television link from space to the NASA building.

"Today I announce a new plan to explore space and extend a human presence across our solar system," the President said. "We will begin the effort quickly, using existing programs and personnel. We'll make steady progress - one mission, one voyage, one landing at a time," he said.

Bush said his plan for human and robotic exploration of the solar system has several goals. The first goal is for the United States to complete its work on the orbiting International Space Station by 2010 - fulfilling its commitment to the 15 partner countries involved in the project.

To meet this goal, he said, the space shuttle will be returned to flight as soon as safely possible, following the disintegration of the shuttle Columbia on February 1, 2003. The disaster forced the grounding of the three remaining shuttles.

Bush said that the shuttle fleet would be retired from service in 2010 after nearly 30 years of service.

President George W. Bush and NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe watch Michael Foale, right, commander of the International Space Station, on a live television link from space. (Photo by Eric Draper courtesy The White House)

The CEV would be a 21st century version of the Apollo rocket and capsule that carried American astronauts to the moon in 1969.

Bush said the third goal is to return to the moon by 2020, using the moon as a launching point for missions to Mars and other planets.

He said a series of robotic missions to the moon, similar to the U.S. spacecraft Spirit Rover that recently landed on Mars to search for signs of water, will explore the lunar surface beginning no later than 2008.

Humans will then conduct extended lunar missions, perhaps as early as 2015, using the CEV, with the goal of living and working there for increasingly extended periods, the President proposed.

The new space policy will be carried out by NASA, under the leadership of the current administrator Sean O'Keefe. "He's doing an excellent job," said the President.

Drag marks on Mars made after the rover Spirit landed and its airbags were deflated and retracted. The mission team plans to drive the rover over to this site to look for clues about the composition of the Martian soil. This image was taken by Spirit's panoramic camera. (Photo courtesy NASA/JPL/Cornell)

President Bush announced a new commission of private and public sector experts that will advise him on implementing the new space policy. He named former Secretary of the Air Force Pete Aldridge to chair the commission, saying "He has tremendous experience in the Department of Defense and the aerospace industry."

Supporters of the plan called it a bold vision, but critics said the funds would be better spent on Earth.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican, who attended today's announcement with a congressional delegation, praised President Bush, saying, "A national commitment to space is not a voluntary initiative: it is a strategic imperative."

DeLay represents the Texas 22nd District, which under the new congressional district lines includes NASA's Johnson Space Center.

Ty McCoy, chairman of Space Transportation Association said, "President Bush gets tremendous credit for developing a bold plan which he knows, and our industry knows, we can deliver on. What I like about the plan is that it is realistic, affordable, and time phased."

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Executive Director Cort Durocher said the new space policy will be good for education, and would inspire young people.

President Bush greets shuttle astronauts from right, Peggy Whitson, Stephanie Wilson, John Grunsfeld, and Ellen Ochoa at NASA headquarters in Washington today. (Photo by Eric Draper courtesy The White House)

But Congressman Chaka Fattah, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said, "Americans are more interested in landing jobs than landing on the moon."

"America struggles with a $500 billion dollar deficit. Nine million workers can't find jobs; 43 million don't have healthcare insurance and tens of millions of children sit in overcrowded classrooms with unqualified teachers."

Children's Defense Fund President Marian Wright Edelman today said that President Bush's space exploration program will likely cost the country much more than the administration is willing to reveal and will divert critical resources away from important domestic priorities.

"Today's speech by the President was an attempt to mask the enormous price tag on further space exploration," said Edelman. "When the President's father proposed similar goals back in 1989, the estimates were $400 billion. But even if the price tag today has been trimmed down, it is still too much."

Edelman said that instead of spending money to colonize the Moon, and travel to Mars and asteroids, a much smaller amount could be invested in health care for American children. "Eighty-one billion dollars phased in over five years would provide health insurance to all uninsured children in America, and $81 billion phased in over five years would give Head Start to every eligible pre-schooler who needs it."

President Bush should concentrate on keeping the Earth inhabitable rather than spending huge sums of money sending people to Mars, Friends of the Earth UK said today. Because the President will not ratify the Kyoto climate protocol to limit the emission of greenhouse gases, the group says the United States is the biggest environmental threat the Earth faces.

Friends of the Earth's climate campaigner, Roger Higman, said, "Space exploration has given us a new perspective on our planet and new ways to measure our environmental impacts on the Earth, but the billons of dollars it will take to send a man to Mars would be far better spent protecting life on Earth."

"Hundreds of millions of people across the world could lose their lives or livelihoods if action isn't taken to stop climate change," said Higman, "and up to a million species could be lost in the next 50 years."

Meanwhile, on Mars, NASA's robot rover Spirit has begun pivoting atop its lander platform, and the robot's human partners have announced plans to send it toward a crater, then toward some hills, during the mission. The main scientific goal for Spirit is to determine whether the Connecticut sized Gusev Crater ever contained a lake.

In coming weeks and months, plans call for the rover to explore for clues in rocks and soil to decipher whether the past environment in Gusev Crater was ever suitable to sustain life.