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To the Moon, and Beyond!
Making the rounds: NASA's revealed its latest long-term plans for human space exploration. I don't think most people really understand the scope and scale of this fundamental change in direction. They really mean it this time, and are already making changes that will not be easily undone.
Assuming this all survives the next administration change, and by that time it's likely it will, the NASA Olivia learns about in school will have transformed from an agency that engages mostly in robotic exploration with some (extremely expensive) dabbling in human space flight, to a very human-centric agency that sends people to interesting places.
Notwithstanding the screams and shirt-tearing going on over at JPL, I'm cautiously optimistic about this new approach. We'll see...
Having been a member of The Planetary Society for years, they're about to blow a gasket since they see the only future for NASA is cheaper-but-less-dramatic robotic missions, and any deviation from that path is sheer heresy. Especially since the budget for the Orion Moonbase/Mars program will necessarily cut into the robotic mission budget.
Of course, on the other side, I am also a member of the National Space Society, which of course advocates MORE man-in-space missions. Needless to say, they are delighted with the prospect of going back to the Moon and off to Mars.
Posted by: Mark on December 6, 2006 11:14 AM