U.S. House Backs Presidential Plan For NASA

By a very large margin, the U.S. House of Representatives has backed President Bush's plan to send human explorers back to the Moon and eventually land astronauts on Mars.^1 The plan, known as "Project Constellation", contemplates achieving the first goal in as soon as ten years.

NASA has already committed several million dollars in pursuit of the plan through agreements with major defense contractors to design the space vehicles necessary to return astronauts to the Moon, a destination that saw its last human footprints more than three decades ago.

As outlined by NASA's Administrator, Dr. Michael Griffin, a Crew Exploration Vehicle would be launched atop a modified version of one of the Shuttle's solid rocket boosters. At the same time, the heavy lift required to launch equipment required for a lunar journey would be provided by a version of the Shuttle which would replace the Orbiter with a payload carrier.

Under the President's plan, manned journeys to Mars would occur about five years after humanity's return to the Moon.

1. Source: Link.