DentArthurDent
01-08-2004, 06:30 PM
I just got this...and it sounds really cool, as far as it goes. The problem will be that if the next President decides this isn't the way to go, all this will be for not [regardless if Mr. Bush is in office 1 or 2 terms] {hopefully next week sees me with a pile of work and not unemployed...} AFD
By FRANK SIETZEN JR. AND KEITH L. COWING, United Press International
WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- American astronauts will return to the moon
early in the next decade in preparation for sending crews to explore Mars
and nearby asteroids, President Bush is expected to propose next week as
part of a sweeping reform of the U.S. space program.
To pay for the new effort -- which would require a new generation of
spacecraft but use Europe's Ariane rockets and Russia's Soyuz capsules in
the interim -- NASA's space shuttle fleet would be retired as soon as
construction of the International Space Station is completed, senior
administration sources told United Press International.
The visionary new space plan would be the most ambitious project entrusted
to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration since the Apollo moon
landings of three decades ago. It commits the United States to an
aggressive and far-reaching mission that holds interplanetary space as the
human race's new frontier.
Sources said Bush's impending announcement climaxes an unprecedented
review of NASA and of America's civilian space goals -- manned and robotic.
The review has been proceeding for nearly a year, involving closed-door
meetings under the supervision of Vice President Dick Cheney, sources said.
The administration examined a wide range of ideas, including new, reusable
space shuttles and even exotic concepts such as space elevators.
To begin the initiative, the president will ask Congress for a down payment
of $800 million for fiscal year 2005, most of which will go to develop new
robotic space vehicles and begin work on advanced human exploration
systems. Bush also plans to ask Congress to boost NASA's budget by 5
percent annually over at least the next five years, with all of the increase
supporting space exploration. With the exception of the Departments of
Defense and Homeland Security, no other agency is expected to receive a
budget increase above inflation in FY 2005.
Along with retiring the shuttle fleet, the new plan calls for NASA to convert a
planned follow-on spacecraft -- called the orbital space plane -- into versions
of a new spaceship called the crew exploration vehicle. NASA would end
substantial involvement in the space station project about the same time
the moon landings would begin -- beginning in 2013, according to an
administration timetable shown to UPI.
The first test flights of unmanned prototypes of the CEV could occur as soon
as 2007. An orbital version would replace the shuttle to transport astronauts
to and from the space station. However, sources said, the current timetable
leaves a period several years when NASA would lack manned space capability
-- hence the need to use Soyuz vehicles for flights to the station. Ariane
rockets also might be used to launch lunar missions.
During the remainder of its participation in space station activities, NASA's
research would be redirected to sustaining humans in space. Other research
programs not involving humans would be terminated or curtailed.
The various models of the CEV would be 21st century versions of the 1960s
Apollo spacecraft. When they become operational, they would be able to
conduct various missions in Earth orbit, travel to and land on the moon,
send astronauts to rendezvous with nearby asteroids, and eventually serve
as part of a series of manned missions to Mars.
Under the current plan, sources said, the first lunar landings would carry only
enough resources to test advanced equipment that would be employed on
voyages beyond the moon. Because the early moon missions would use
existing rockets, they could deliver only small equipment packages. So the
initial, return-to-the-moon missions essentially would begin where the Apollo
landings left off -- a few days at a time, growing gradually longer. The
human landings could be both preceded and accompanied by robotic
vehicles.
The first manned Mars expeditions would attempt to orbit the red planet in
advance of landings -- much as Apollo 8 and 10 orbited the moon but did
not land. The orbital flights would conduct photo reconnaissance of the
Martian surface before sending landing craft, said sources familiar with the
plan's details.
Along with new spacecraft, NASA would develop other equipment needed to
allow humans to explore other worlds, including advanced spacesuits, roving
vehicles and life support equipment.
As part of its new space package, sources said, the administration will
convene an unusual presidential commission to review NASA's plans as they
unfold. The group would consider such factors as the design of the
spacecraft; the procedure for assembly, either in Earth orbit or lunar orbit;
the individual elements the new craft should contain, such as capsules,
supply modules, landing vehicles and propellant stages, and the duration
and number of missions and size of crews.
Sources said Bush will direct NASA to scale back or scrap all existing
programs that do not support the new effort. Further details about the plan
and the space agency's revised budget will be announced in NASA briefings
next week and when the president delivers his FY 2005 budget to Congress.
By FRANK SIETZEN JR. AND KEITH L. COWING, United Press International
WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- American astronauts will return to the moon
early in the next decade in preparation for sending crews to explore Mars
and nearby asteroids, President Bush is expected to propose next week as
part of a sweeping reform of the U.S. space program.
To pay for the new effort -- which would require a new generation of
spacecraft but use Europe's Ariane rockets and Russia's Soyuz capsules in
the interim -- NASA's space shuttle fleet would be retired as soon as
construction of the International Space Station is completed, senior
administration sources told United Press International.
The visionary new space plan would be the most ambitious project entrusted
to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration since the Apollo moon
landings of three decades ago. It commits the United States to an
aggressive and far-reaching mission that holds interplanetary space as the
human race's new frontier.
Sources said Bush's impending announcement climaxes an unprecedented
review of NASA and of America's civilian space goals -- manned and robotic.
The review has been proceeding for nearly a year, involving closed-door
meetings under the supervision of Vice President Dick Cheney, sources said.
The administration examined a wide range of ideas, including new, reusable
space shuttles and even exotic concepts such as space elevators.
To begin the initiative, the president will ask Congress for a down payment
of $800 million for fiscal year 2005, most of which will go to develop new
robotic space vehicles and begin work on advanced human exploration
systems. Bush also plans to ask Congress to boost NASA's budget by 5
percent annually over at least the next five years, with all of the increase
supporting space exploration. With the exception of the Departments of
Defense and Homeland Security, no other agency is expected to receive a
budget increase above inflation in FY 2005.
Along with retiring the shuttle fleet, the new plan calls for NASA to convert a
planned follow-on spacecraft -- called the orbital space plane -- into versions
of a new spaceship called the crew exploration vehicle. NASA would end
substantial involvement in the space station project about the same time
the moon landings would begin -- beginning in 2013, according to an
administration timetable shown to UPI.
The first test flights of unmanned prototypes of the CEV could occur as soon
as 2007. An orbital version would replace the shuttle to transport astronauts
to and from the space station. However, sources said, the current timetable
leaves a period several years when NASA would lack manned space capability
-- hence the need to use Soyuz vehicles for flights to the station. Ariane
rockets also might be used to launch lunar missions.
During the remainder of its participation in space station activities, NASA's
research would be redirected to sustaining humans in space. Other research
programs not involving humans would be terminated or curtailed.
The various models of the CEV would be 21st century versions of the 1960s
Apollo spacecraft. When they become operational, they would be able to
conduct various missions in Earth orbit, travel to and land on the moon,
send astronauts to rendezvous with nearby asteroids, and eventually serve
as part of a series of manned missions to Mars.
Under the current plan, sources said, the first lunar landings would carry only
enough resources to test advanced equipment that would be employed on
voyages beyond the moon. Because the early moon missions would use
existing rockets, they could deliver only small equipment packages. So the
initial, return-to-the-moon missions essentially would begin where the Apollo
landings left off -- a few days at a time, growing gradually longer. The
human landings could be both preceded and accompanied by robotic
vehicles.
The first manned Mars expeditions would attempt to orbit the red planet in
advance of landings -- much as Apollo 8 and 10 orbited the moon but did
not land. The orbital flights would conduct photo reconnaissance of the
Martian surface before sending landing craft, said sources familiar with the
plan's details.
Along with new spacecraft, NASA would develop other equipment needed to
allow humans to explore other worlds, including advanced spacesuits, roving
vehicles and life support equipment.
As part of its new space package, sources said, the administration will
convene an unusual presidential commission to review NASA's plans as they
unfold. The group would consider such factors as the design of the
spacecraft; the procedure for assembly, either in Earth orbit or lunar orbit;
the individual elements the new craft should contain, such as capsules,
supply modules, landing vehicles and propellant stages, and the duration
and number of missions and size of crews.
Sources said Bush will direct NASA to scale back or scrap all existing
programs that do not support the new effort. Further details about the plan
and the space agency's revised budget will be announced in NASA briefings
next week and when the president delivers his FY 2005 budget to Congress.