Bush to call for moon base, Mars missions

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SeleucusNicator

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Hot off the Associated Press

By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - President Bush (news - web sites) will announce plans next week to send Americans to Mars and back to the moon and to establish a long-term human presence on the moon, senior administration officials said Thursday night.

Bush won't propose sending Americans to Mars anytime soon; rather, he envisions preparing for the mission more than a decade from now, one official said.

The president also wants to build a permanent space station on the moon.

Three senior officials said Bush wants to aggressively reinvigorate the space program, which has been demoralized by a series of setbacks, including the space shuttle disaster last February that killed seven astronauts.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Bush's announcement would come in the middle of next week.

Bush has been expected to propose a bold new space mission in an effort to rally Americans around a unifying theme as he campaigns for re-election.

Many insiders had speculated he might set forth goals at the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' famed flight last month in North Carolina. Instead, he said only that America would continue to lead the world in aviation.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, among others, has called for an expansion of the U.S. space program, including a return to the moon. The United States put 12 men on the moon between 1969 through 1972.

An interagency task force led by Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) has been considering options for a space mission since summer.

Former Ohio Sen. John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, has said that before deciding to race off to the moon or Mars, the nation needs to complete the international space station and provide the taxi service to accommodate a full crew of six or seven. The station currently houses two.

At the same time, Glenn has said, NASA (news - web sites) could be laying out a long-term plan, setting a loose timetable and investing in the engineering challenges of sending people to Mars. The only sensible reason for going to the moon first, he says, would be to test the technology for a Mars trip.
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One word: awesomeness.
 
seems like he wants to curry favor by establishing some "great public works" (not from article). Not a bad idea though, its about time we explore possibilities in space.
 
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
this is about the ONLY thing that he has done so far that I like
 
Cool, but what ever happened to a little thing called fiscal responsability?

Bush is spending like there is no tomorrow, and he has the power to make there be no tomorrow. :p
 
It seems the presidential campaign officially started. First point, the legalization of illegal immigrants, then, that...
 
Interesting.

I dunno how effective it could be, even financial stuff aside. Yes, it'll take time, but we're still very early on into space. No telling what disasters could await us, especially since some space shuttle disasters, both recent and not so recent, will be on people's minds as he announces this.

The little boy in me, even with my cynicalism abound, is saying a moon base is so damn cool, though. :)
 
Originally posted by MummyMan
true, but at least this is for a good purpose.
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One could argue against that.

A moon base (which I support) has murky and possible uses in the future, mainly for exploring other planets - which in turn could only really be used for distant total colonization or just so we can say we did.

And frankly, since we're already $500 billion (or so) in the hole I don't think this is the best move at the time...
 
Originally posted by cgannon64
Cool, but what ever happened to a little thing called fiscal responsability?

Bush is spending like there is no tomorrow, and he has the power to make there be no tomorrow. :p
Click to expand...
Actually, Bush isn't irrational acting this way. He wants to reduce Welfare and social security... so he spends a lot and afterwards he'll say we need to cut costs in social policies to reduce deficits...
 
yeah, but space is the place- who knows exactley what commercial gains are to be made by ensuring American dominace in this arena- we need to ride high on the success fo the recent mars mission, as my instinct tells me if this isnt accepted now, there wont be a similer proposal untill someone else is starting to take the space lead
 
Originally posted by Xen
yeah, but space is the place- who knows exactley what commercial gains are to be made by ensuring American dominace in this arena- we need to ride high on the success fo the recent mars mission, as my instinct tells me if this isnt accepted now, there wont be a similer proposal untill someone else is starting to take the space lead
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And who knows how long this is gonna take? Tens of generations IMO.

Why waste the money on space exploration? Just cause it's cool? I mean we can't have a use of it in distant future, we can't eat from it, we can't own it like a diamond, and if there IS aliens, the first thing they'll do is destroy NASA, who disturbed their peace and who is also smart enough to put up the american flag on it (first target, assuming that they're not-so friendly)...
 
@NewbieHere


stop thinking about your self and start thinking about future generations- life, and running a country is not now, nor EVER has been completelly a deal of "me, me, me, me"- nom it is a governments job to prepare the way for future oppertunities to continue the stregnth of that nation, nation, even if the pay off is no where near immediate, dont like it, to bad, if thing went your way, the nation would be practiaclly dead in 15 years.
 
:confused:

What?? When did I say anything about myself??

Anyway, I just see it as a waste of money when, in 15 years, private companies will probably be far ahead of governments in the space race. The X-Prize will probably be taken in 2 years or so, and then there will be space tourist companies, and soon due to the miracle of capitalism the prices will drop for a space ticket through competition, and soon space is open for the taking...
 
Originally posted by cgannon64
:confused:

What?? When did I say anything about myself??
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wasnt at you Gannon ;)
 
A 100% American project to land on Mars seems a bit outdated to me. Reaching such a goal is to me something beyond money since it's about writing a new page in human History. However, such a project should be financed internationally. It would cost less to american people and it would give a strong symbol of Human Union to the little martians we will find there. They will say : "Woaw, we're stucked in our wars between martians and look at people from earth ! they united to meet us ! That's huge !" ;)

PS : Xen, were you accusing me ? If so, then explain because I don't understand.
 
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