Think Bigger Than Moon Visit, Commission Tells White House
Winnipeg Free Press › October 30, 2009
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Summary
In a news conference on Thursday, panel chairman Norman Augustine focused on fresh destinations for NASA, saying it makes more sense to put astronauts on a nearby asteroid or one of the moons of Mars. He said that could be done sooner than returning to the moon in 15 years as NASA has outlined.
The exploration plans now under fire were pushed by then-president George W. Bush after the 2003 Columbia space shuttle disaster. The moon-Mars plan lacks enough money, thanks to budget diversions, the panel said in a 155-page report. Starting in 2014, NASA needs an extra $3 billion a year if astronauts are going to travel beyond Earth's orbit, the panel said.In a news conference to discuss their report, [Ed Crawley] and Augustine said the current NASA plans were well-conceived at the time, in 2005. But when money got diverted and launch dates delayed, NASA's new Ares I rocket began to look like it lost one of its major purposes: ferrying astronauts to the space station.See the full content of this document
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Think Bigger Than Moon Visit, Commission Tells White House
WASHINGTON -- NASA needs to make a major detour on its grand plans to return astronauts to the moon, a special independent panel told the White House Thursday.
Under current plans, NASA ha...See the full content of this document
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