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Reports: Bush space policy announcement expected next week ============================================================ Updated: Thu, Jan 8 8:49 PM ET (0149 GMT) Originally Posted: Thu, Jan 8 6:52 PM ET (2352 GMT) President George W. Bush will make an announcement next week about a new US space policy that could include resuming human missions to the Moon, Reuters and UPI reported late Thursday. The Reuters article cited Congressional sources, who said that the president would make a "major announcement", according to the report. That policy is expected to include a "new lunar initiative" that could eventually lead to human Mars missions. UPI reported that Bush will ask Congress to increase NASA's budget by five percent per year for the next five years to pay for this new effort. The shuttle would also be retired as soon as the assembly of the International Space Station is completed, according to the UPI report, with NASA relying on Soyuz and Ariane launches to send crews and cargo to the station. Research into areas outside of the lunar exploration project would be curtailed or terminated, UPI reported. Bush will be in Mexico on Monday and Tuesday of next week, suggesting that any announcement would wait until after he returned. Related Links: -------------- Reuters article: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=JZEDSYS0AZZAQCRBAEKSFEY?type=scienceNews&storyID=4097569 UPI article : http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040107-123930-1532r Visit http://www.spacetoday.net/ to get the latest space news summaries and links to space news articles published throughout the web. If you have any questions about this service, please contact us at [EMAIL PROTECTED] |
