Obama + Mars?

3:46 pm EST March 7th, 2010 | News | 3 Comments

Everyone already knows that I’m a fan of the Prez, but if he announces a long term plan that involves America going to Mars, the presidency will already be an unparalleled success in my household.

President Barack Obama will outline his administration’s vision for space agency NASA and an eventual trip to Mars during a conference in Florida in April, the White House said on Sunday.

Obama has had to defend his commitment to the space agency in the politically important U.S. state after submitting a budget to Congress that would cancel a program to return U.S. astronauts to the moon.

Obama wants to refocus NASA efforts on technologies to prepare for human missions to other destinations in the solar system.

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3 Responses to “Obama + Mars?”

  1. Not That IvyNYC says:
    March 8, 2010 at 8:46 am

    This is why I’m so upset about the cancellation of the Constellation Program– it was a our first step to Mars. With a moon base set up, we could practice all the techniques needed to living off-Earth and in a low-gravity environment, as well as actually building the Mars-bound spacecraft off-planet. Now I’m not terribly angry at Obama for cutting the funding for Constellation since it really wasn’t there to begin with (Bushonomics= OK a majorly expensive program and have no way to pay for it– Medicare D anyone?). But I just think that by scrapping any and all projects re: the Moon, we’re missing the biggest opportunity we have to completely revamp our economy. Raw resources, unlimited FREE solar energy, leaps forward in astronomy, and just plain tourism all await us on the Moon.

  2. justadood says:
    March 8, 2010 at 2:15 pm

    Constellation (in the opinion of old Astronauts like Buzz Aldrin)would have been a step backwards in prepping us for further *manned* exploration, but taking our launch vehicles hack to the ’60′s to get us back to the moon by 2020…

    While I wish we had more Budget for NASA, I can appreciate the President’s efforts to further attract private/corporate investment in Space Exploration/Space Travel. In the end, it needs to be more than only Governments that travel between planets and colonize Space, which would be an end lost if we continue to dump our hopes on NASA alone.

    IMO, Kennedy intended NASA to be the start of things, not an end in itself… it’s up to *us* to take the next steps. The X-Prize was a decent means to start the ball rolling—lessee what Business can do

  3. merl says:
    March 8, 2010 at 2:24 pm

    I thought chickengeorge bush was going to take us to Mars. Whatever happened to that?