President Bush set a soaring “new course for America’s space program” on Wednesday by proposing manned exploration of the moon within a generation and of Mars sometime after that.
The price could soar, too, to about $170 billion, according to a NASA document. But Bush spoke mostly of the challenge he saw ahead.
“We do not know where this journey will end,” Bush said, standing before photos of the moon and Mars at NASA’s headquarters, “yet we do know this: Human beings are headed into the cosmos.”
Comparing the new quest into space to the Lewis and Clark expedition that opened the American West, the president declared: “The desire to explore and understand is part of our character.”
Astronauts could return to the moon to establish a more permanent outpost, instead of brief visits as in the Apollo era, as soon as 2015 or as late as 2020, according to Bush’s plan.
Wednesday’s much-anticipated announcement was heavy on the what and the where of this new initiative, but light on the how and the how much.
The missions would employ a not-yet-designed Crew Exploration Vehicle that would replace the current space shuttle, which would be scrapped in 2010. Construction work on the International Space Station, the world’s current presence in space, would finish at the same time. It could be used to help the moon-Mars mission.
Robots similar to the Spirit rover now on Mars will pave the way for manned moon missions, launched as soon as 2008.
Bush gave no date for humans visiting the red planet. Sean O’Keefe, NASA’s administrator, said: “Our principle destination is Mars to be sure. That’s why we’re there right now.”
Bush also offered no overall cost estimate for NASA’s vast new mission. Nor would NASA. A NASA document distributed after Bush’s speech showed three general categories involving the moon-Mars mission and a few other smaller programs, which would cost a total of about $170 billion by 2020. More than 80 percent of that spending would occur after Bush leaves office, even if he is elected to a second term.
Retiring the limping space shuttle program would free some money in NASA’s tight $15.4 billion budget, as would curtailing construction for the over-budget International Space Station. Bush pledged to invite other nations to join in the missions to the moon and beyond, but O’Keefe said they’ll be U.S.-led.
NASA veterans, including Christopher Kraft, who oversaw the Apollo program, said the current agency is too old and rigid to do what the president wants. NASA will reorganize, in light of its new mission, on Thursday, O’Keefe said, with an emphasis on “being flexible.”
The key to getting to the moon and eventually Mars is likely to be money, however, and NASA has had a hard time managing that. Former NASA officials and outside space experts point to a history of massive cost overruns and poor NASA budget estimating.
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Q&A
What is the president proposing?
To send astronauts back to the moon and establish an “extended presence” there. Later in this century, astronauts would be sent on to Mars.
How much will this cost?
The president is proposing to add $1 billion to NASA’s budget over the next five years and to redirect funds now in the space agency budget toward the moon-Mars plan. But that will be just the startup funds for an effort that will take hundreds of billions of dollars to complete.
What is planned for the moon?
The plan calls for exploration of the lunar surface by robot craft by 2008 and the landing of astronauts there as early as 2015 “with the goal of living and working there for increasingly extended periods.”
When will astronauts go to the moon?
As early as 2015 and no later than 2020.
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What will astronauts do on the moon?
Mine resources from the lunar soil, including perhaps rocket fuel from helium-3 and from suspected water deposits. Astronauts could use the moon to develop skills and technologies for use on other missions, such as to Mars. The moon, which has gravity one-sixth that of Earth, could also be used as a launch site for a Mars expedition.
What happens to the space shuttle?
Flaws detected in the shuttle after the Columbia accident last year will be corrected, and the winged craft will then be used to complete construction of the International Space Station. The shuttle will be retired by the end of this decade.
How will astronauts get to Mars?
The president’s plan does not mention any plans for a spacecraft capable of going to Mars and landing there.
ASSOCIATED PRESS.
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Highlights of the NASA program
January 1958: Explorer 1, the first U.S. satellite, is launched. NASA is created in October to oversee civilian space activities.
June 1961: Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space. President John F. Kennedy announces plans to put an American on the moon within 10 years.
1966: Surveyor 1 makes America’s first soft lunar landing and transmits 10,000 photos of the moon’s surface.
January 1967: A launch pad fire kills Apollo astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee.
July 1969: Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin land on the moon.
April 1970: An oxygen tank explodes as Apollo 13 nears the moon. The lunar landing module is used to return the three astronauts safely to Earth.
January 1972: President Richard Nixon launches the space shuttle program. In December, Apollo 17 makes last lunar landing.
January 1984: President Ronald Reagan announces plans to develop permanently occupied space station within 10 years.
January 1986: Challenger explodes 74 seconds after liftoff, killing 7 crew members. Shuttle flights suspended.
September 1988: Launch of Discovery marks NASA’s first launch since the Challenger disaster.
1993: President Clinton invites Russia to join in building the
International Space Station.
February 2003: Columbia breaks apart, killing all seven astronauts.
Sources: Encyclopedia Americana, New York Public Library Book of Chronologies, CQ Researcher, the New York Times, other sources
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Compiled by Sandy Date, Minneapolis Star Tribune.