George W. Bush et son programme spatiale en 2004: Inspired by all that has come before, and guided by clear objectives, today we set a new course for Americas space program. We will give NASA a new focus and vision for future exploration. We will build new ships to carry man forward into the universe, to gain a new foothold on the moon and to prepare for new journeys to the worlds beyond our own. [...] *Today I announce a new plan to explore space and extend a human presence across our solar system. We will begin the effort quickly, using existing programs and personnel. Well make steady progress, one mission, one voyage, one landing at a time. * * Our first goal is to complete the International Space Station by 2010.* We will finish what we have started. We will meet our obligations to our 15 international partners on this project. We will focus our future research aboard this station on the long-term effects of space travel on human biology. The environment of space is hostile to human beings. Radiation and weightlessness pose dangers to human health. And we have much to learn about their long-term effects before human crews can venture through the vast voids of space for months at a time. Research on board the station and here on Earth will help us better understand and overcome the obstacles that limit exploration. Through these efforts, we will develop the skills and techniques necessary to sustain further space exploration. To meet this goal, we will return the space shuttle to flight as soon as possible, consistent with safety concerns and the recommendations of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. The shuttles chief purpose over the next several years will be to help finish assembly of the International Space Station. In 2010, the space shuttle, after nearly 30 years of duty, will be retired from service. *Our second goal is to develop and test a new spacecraft, the crew exploration vehicle, by 2008, and to conduct the first manned mission no later than 2014.* The crew exploration vehicle will be capable of ferrying astronauts and scientists to the space station after the shuttle is retired. But the main purpose of this spacecraft will be to carry astronauts beyond our orbit to other worlds. This will be the first spacecraft of its kind since the Apollo command module. *Our third goal is to return to the moon by 2020, as the launching point for missions beyond.* Beginning no later than 2008, we will send a series of robotic missions to the lunar surface to research and prepare for future human exploration. Using the crew exploration vehicle, we will undertake extended human missions to the moon as early as 2015, with the goal of living and working there for increasingly extended periods of time. [...] The moon is a logical step toward further progress and achievement. With the experience and knowledge gained on the moon, we will then be ready to take the next steps of space exploration: human missions to Mars and to worlds beyond. Robotic missions will serve as trailblazers, the advanced guard to the unknown. Probes, landers and other vehicles of this kind continue to prove their worth, sending spectacular images and vast amounts of data back to Earth. Yet the human thirst for knowledge ultimately cannot be satisfied by even the most vivid pictures or the most detailed measurements. We need to see and examine and touch for ourselves. And only human beings are capable of adapting to the inevitable uncertainties posed by space travel. As our knowledge improves, well develop new power generation, propulsion, life support and other systems that can support more distant travels. We do not know where this journey will end. Yet we know this: Human beings are headed into the cosmos. [...] This will be a great and unifying mission for NASA. And we know that youll achieve it. Ive directed Administrator OKeefe to review all of NASAs current space flight and exploration activities and direct them toward the goals I have outlined. Ill also form a commission of private- and public-sector experts to advise on implementing the vision that Ive outlined today. This commission will report to me within four months of its first meeting. Im today naming former Secretary of the Air Force Pete Aldrich to be the chair of the commission.[...] Well invite other nations to share the challenges and opportunities of this new era of discovery. The vision I outline today is a journey, not a race. And I call on other nations to join us on this journey, in the spirit of cooperation and friendship. Achieving these goals requires a long-term commitment. NASAs current five-year budget is $86 billion. Most of the funding we need for the new endeavors will come from re-allocating $11 billion from within that budget. We need some new resources, however. I will call upon Congress to increase NASAs budget by roughly a billion dollars spread over the next five years. This increase, along with the refocusing of our space agency, is a solid beginning to meet the challenges and the goals that we set today. This is only a beginning. Future funding decisions will be guided by the progress that we make in achieving these goals. [...] Mankind is drawn to the heavens for the same reason we were once drawn into unknown lands and across the open sea. We choose to explore space because doing so improves our lives and lifts our national spirit. So let us continue the journey.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Jul 2014 15:57:07 +0000