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Planetary News: The Planetary Society (2010)

The Rebirth of Human Space Exploration

The Planetary Society Position on President Obama's Proposal for NASA

April 16, 2010

President Obama has charted a course that could launch the United States on a new path to historic "firsts" in space -- first astronauts to travel beyond the Moon, first astronauts to touch down on an asteroid, first astronauts to reach a Lagrange point, first astronauts to reach Mars. 

The Planetary Society's leadership believes this new plan will take humans beyond Earth orbit to interplanetary space sooner than was possible under the old program, and it will take us farther and to more destinations than was ever planned with the Constellation program.

We commit our energy and resources to help turn this NASA plan from words to reality.  Congress must now act upon the President's proposal.  We recognize that it will be a long, hard fight, that there are entrenched interests that must be overcome, that business-as-usual must be surmounted, and, and that it will require breaking through technological barriers.  But if human space explorers are to reach their destination of Mars within the next few decades -- a cherished dream of Society Members -- this is the only realistic way to get there.

This plan is the rebirth of human spaceflight to deep space.  The proposal increases NASA's budget by $6 billion over five years -- during a time when other federal discretionary funding is frozen. The Administration's goal is to enable astronauts to reach space faster and more often. Many more people will fly to space over the next decade than would under the previous plan. 

In his speech at Kennedy Space Center, President Obama clearly laid out his goals and a timetable for NASA:

• By 2015 – Finalize a heavy-lift launcher design and begin to build it.  This would give us a deep-space rocket years earlier than estimated under Constellation.  The President has allocated $3 billion to do the work.
• By 2025 – Begin the first crewed missions beyond the Moon and into deep space.  The final choice of destination is not immediately made, but will depend on technology advances.  A near-Earth asteroid is a possible choice, with increasingly demanding targets to follow.
• By mid-2030s – Send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth.
• During the President's lifetime, people will land on Mars.

Even while driving human spaceflight forward, the new proposal would "ramp up robotic exploration of the solar system," sending a probe to the Sun, more spacecraft to Mars, and launching a new telescope more advanced than Hubble. The Planetary Society has always fought to keep science strong at NASA and we will strongly support these ambitious endeavors.

The President has laid out his plan for NASA.  Now the action shifts to Congress.  In those hearing rooms over the coming months, the future of human space exploration may well be decided.  Politicians will make choices that will determine whether NASA returns to the troubled path of the past or breaks out of Earth orbit to explore new worlds.  The Planetary Society will mobilize all its available resources to help humankind extend its reach into the Cosmos.