Bush Calls For New Moon Landing By 2015

[Ugly Bastard]

Source

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) proposed on Wednesday to develop a new spacecraft to carry Americans back to the moon by 2015, and to establish a long-term base there as an eventual springboard to Mars and beyond.



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Bush would withdraw the United States from the International Space Station (news - web sites) by 2010 and retire the space shuttle fleet at about the same time. Details of his proposal were released by the White House in advance of a speech by the president at NASA (news - web sites) headquarters.

Bush wants to use the moon as a base for more ambitious missions to Mars and into the deeper reaches of the solar system, the White House said.

An extended human presence on the moon "will enable astronauts to develop new technologies and harness the moon's abundant resources to allow manned exploration of more challenging environments," the White House said in a prepared statement.

"The experience and knowledge gained on the moon will serve as a foundation for human missions beyond the moon, beginning with Mars," the statement said.

The moon has one-sixth the gravitational field of Earth, so moon-based aircraft could launch from there more cheaply.

"The president's vision affirms our nation's commitment to manned space exploration," the White House statement said. "It gives NASA a new focus and clear objectives. It will be affordable and sustainable while maintaining the highest levels of safety."

Bush proposed a modest increase in spending for the new venture — $1 billion in new spending over five years. Bush would also shift $11 billion in federal money from other NASA programs to make way for the program.

Probes, landers and other unmanned spacecraft would explore the lunar surface beginning no later than 2008 to research and prepare for future human exploration.

NASA would also develop and build a new "Crew Exploration Vehicle" to ferry people first to the International Space Station after the shuttles are retired, and then to the moon, no later than 2015. The goal, the White House said, would be humans "living and working there for increasingly extended periods."

White House officials said the human "presence" would not necessarily be a permanent base.

At the start of an election year, the White House cast the next envisioned generation of space travel as affordable and useful to average Americans who might be skeptical about such a mission at a time of record budget deficits.

The administration's fact sheet offered a list of benefits from previous space missions: "Space exploration has yielded advances in communications, weather forecasting, electronics and countless other fields," the White House said. Examples included CAT scanners, MRIs, kidney dialysis machines, programmable heart pacemakers, satellite communications advances.

Bush is asking for a $1 billion boost to NASA's budget over five years to fund the start of a new American campaign in space. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said NASA spending, in the short term, would constitute less than 1 percent of the federal budget, but he would not provide a total price tag for the venture.

McClellan suggested that other countries, perhaps including Russia, would share in the project and help bear the costs. "Russia would have some important contributions," McClellan said.

Bush also formed a new panel, the Commission on the Implementation of U.S. Space Exploration Policy, to advise NASA on the implementation of his ideas.

I think this is neat. I always wondered why our human space exploration just dropped off of the face of Earth...but now it sounds like it might be back.

Expensive? Yes. But when the Democrats bitch about it being too expensive, it kind of makes me chuckle, being the big spenders that they are.

I'm a fan. I think it'd be pimp if man walked on Mars in our lifetime.

-Ugly Bastard

[silver and cold]

Well that sounds quite interesting!

[Saint DH]

I am all for this. I'm listening to Bush speak right now on CNN. He said they're going to finish the international space station by 2010. They also hope to make a new space shuttle, allowing them to travel further out. This is pimp.

[Fruitacious B]

Ugly, I'm with you on the fact that this is pretty neat. However, I don't think that they should be trying to develop a new spacecraft for going straight to the moon from earth. I think that we should just develop a way to go from Earth to the Space Station, then go to the moon via the Space Station. It seems to make more sense to me. Hopefully, this will set the wheels in motion to getting us to Mars. 2015 is still quite while away, so it's also possible that the idea will be scrapped in the next five years as another act of wishful thinking.

[VOL]

Well I guess that would be the next step after he takes over the world.

[Pliedes]

It's not as exhuberently expensive as it sounds. Since they'll be phasing out aging programs like the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station, there will be a lot more money for new projects. (The shuttle now costs NASA about $4 billion a year and the station about $1 billion.) It'll also help build up the spirit of the American people. Think of how excitedly older people speak about landing on the moon back in the day. I think this is a great idea which will help provide direction for NASA and lead to more advancements in the final frontier of space.

Rock on Dubya, rock on.

[ January 14, 2004, 05:29 PM: Message edited by: Pliedes ]

[Saint DH]

However, I don't think that they should be trying to develop a new spacecraft for going straight to the moon from earth. I think that we should just develop a way to go from Earth to the Space Station, then go to the moon via the Space Station

Yeah, I think that's the plan actually. I believe they want to develope a new space craft that will take off from the space station, which is why they want it completed by 2010.

[VOL]

Well Dubya is going to be screwed if he is not re-elected. I can't see Howard Dean wanting to do this. I think because many want to bring him up and leave him there anyway.

[Pliedes]

Bush would withdraw the United States from the International Space Station (news - web sites) by 2010 and retire the space shuttle fleet at about the same time. Details of his proposal were released by the White House in advance of a speech by the president at NASA (news - web sites) headquarters.

We're pulling out of the Space Station and the Shuttle program.

Fruit, when you drive to school, do you stop halfway and get in another car? No? Then why would we stop at the space station on the way to the moon? We already have developed methods to get there, remember, we've already been there a bunch of times.

[Saint DH]

Alright, looks like I was wrong...I knew they were going to retire the space shuttle, I was kind of off and on sleeping while listening to his speech so yeah.

[VOL]

Well a speech that would have kept you awake Harry would be Gov. Joe Kearnan's State of the State address. Very interesting. His biggest thing was about initiating full day kindergarten without raising taxes to pay for it. GO JOEY K GO!

[ January 14, 2004, 06:09 PM: Message edited by: VOL ]

[Saint DH]

Full day of kindergarten? Fuck that shit, honestly what a dickhead.

[Cocktooth]

Is it me or should pres. bush be more concerned with International Affairs...LIKE THE WAR???? i could give a rats ass about the fucking moon...get the job done in the middle east and get our soldiers back...that should be a #1..no the US Space Program

[Combat Chuck]

I don't know, I think this is actually a good diversion from all the international shit that we're mired in. I know that personally, this is a breath of fresh air when all the news is about these days is fucking foriegn policy gone bad.

[VOL]

No #1 should be domestic issues like homelessness and the economy. He does have his priorities mixed up. Typical Bush.

[Ugly Bastard]

Originally posted by Shaw:
Is it me or should pres. bush be more concerned with International Affairs...LIKE THE WAR????

Audible, audible, audible fucking laughter. Ask tonguegina if you don't believe me.

God that was funny.

-Ugly Bastard

[tonguegina]

Oh...the laughter was definitely audible. I know I heard it.

[Fruitacious B]

[quote]Originally posted by Pliedes:

[qb]Fruit, when you drive to school, do you stop halfway and get in another car? No? Then why would we stop at the space station on the way to the moon? We already have developed methods to get there, remember, we've already been there a bunch of times.

Not the case at all, Pliedes. I don't stop halfway to get in another car, but I wouldn't buy a car with a bigger gas tank, when I could just as easily refuel while on my way there with the car I already have.

Yes, we have been there a bunch of times. So why is it going to take another eleven years for us to go there again if it was so easy to go there "a bunch of times" before? I remember asking a similar question to Mr. McClintock at Jefferson back in the day, and for those of you that know him, he knows his shit when it comes to NASA and space exploration. He replied with, "Because we forgot how." I don't know what he really based that off of, but I've been under that impression for some time now.

[ninjaface]

Originally posted by VOL:
No #1 should be domestic issues like homelessness and the economy.

We wouldnt have homelessness if those people didnt deserve it. And the economy? The homeless fucked it up, thats why they are homeless.

And since we are going to the moon, lets shoot the homeless into the sun.

Lets blame everything on the homeless.

[Pliedes]

Originally posted by Shaw:
Is it me or should pres. bush be more concerned with International Affairs...LIKE THE WAR???? i could give a rats ass about the fucking moon...get the job done in the middle east and get our soldiers back...that should be a #1..no the US Space Program

Originally posted by VOL:
No #1 should be domestic issues like homelessness and the economy. He does have his priorities mixed up. Typical Bush.

Dumbasses, at no point did he say it was our number one concern. In fact, he'll actually have very little to do with it. It's simply setting the course for NASA, an individual agency. NASA has nothing to do with Iraq or the economy, so in no way will it be detering from it.

Originally posted by Fruitacious B:
I don't stop halfway to get in another car, but I wouldn't buy a car with a bigger gas tank, when I could just as easily refuel while on my way there with the car I already have.

That "car you already have". Is it the Apollo (which doesn't exist anymore) or the space shuttle (which has blow up two times)?
You have to get a new car, and the most logical route is to have a car which will get you all the way there.

Originally posted by Fruitacious B:
Yes, we have been there a bunch of times. So why is it going to take another eleven years for us to go there again if it was so easy to go there "a bunch of times" before?

Because we don't currently have something which can get us there, we have to update technology, and this time we're trying to colonize it.

[StabMaster Arson]

Yeah, we do have a few problems... a dumbshit in office, soldiers still in Iraq, a waning economy, and homelessness... the only logical thing to do now is set up a big welcome mat on the mexican border and spend a shitload of money on space exploration.

[VOL]

I completely agree with Stab. Bush doesn't seem to care about his fellow man. Just money and Oil. He wanted to take out Saddam, and he did. Much credit goes to him and his staff. But all I am saying is that he seems to have his priorities mixed up.

It should be:
Domestics first. Internationals second. Then space exploration.

When the ecomomy goes back up, and our soldiers leave Iraq and all the other crap hole countries, we'll be on the right track.

[ January 20, 2004, 10:38 AM: Message edited by: VOL ]

[Ugly Bastard]

Originally posted by VOL:
Bush doesn't seem to care about his fellow man. Just money and Oil.

VOL, could you please provide me with some substantial evidence that Bush does not care about American citizens, and only invaded Iraq so he could get oil for himself. Thanks.

Sorry for the bastardly sarcasm, I just get so sick of people mindlessly saying "Bush only cares about oil", then failing to offer one single shred of evidence that America is even coming within a hundred miles of the oil fields in Iraq. What part of "that oil is a resource for the Iraqi people to use to their advantage" didn't you understand? We're not shipping the shit out by the barrels, we're not even touching it.

-Ugly Bastard

[VOL]

It was a sarcastic generalization UB. It was meant to attract attention. I see it worked.

[Fruitacious B]

I'm not sure if you actually read this VOL, here's a refresher....

Dumbasses, at no point did he say it was our number one concern. In fact, he'll actually have very little to do with it. It's simply setting the course for NASA, an individual agency. NASA has nothing to do with Iraq or the economy, so in no way will it be detering from it.