    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book I)]
    [January 14, 2004]
    [Pages 56-59]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
    January 14, 2004

        Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm honored to be with the men and
    women of NASA. I thank those of you who have come in person. I welcome
    those who are listening by video. This agency and the dedicated
    professionals who serve it have always reflected the finest values of
    our country, daring, discipline, ingenuity, and unity in the pursuit of
    great goals.
        America is proud of our space program. The risktakers and
    visionaries of this agency have expanded human knowledge, have
    revolutionized our understanding of the universe, and produced
    technological advances that have benefited all of humanity.
        Inspired by all that has come before and guided by clear objectives,
    today we set a new course for America's 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 worlds beyond our own.
        I am comfortable in delegating these new goals to NASA, under the
    leadership of Sean O'Keefe. He's doing an
    excellent job. I appreciate Commander Mike Foale's introduction. I'm
    sorry I couldn't shake his hand. [Laughter] Perhaps, Commissioner,
    you'll bring him by--Administrator, you'll bring him by to the Oval
    Office when he returns, so I can thank him in person.
        I also know he is in space with his colleague, Alexander
    Kaleri, who happens to be a Russian
    cosmonaut. I appreciate the joint efforts of the Russians with our
    country to explore. I want to thank the astronauts who are with us, the
    courageous

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    spacial entrepreneurs who set such a wonderful example for the young of
    our country.
        And we've got some veterans with us today. I appreciate the
    astronauts of yesterday who are with us as well, who inspired the
    astronauts of today to serve our country.
        I appreciate so very much the Members of Congress being here. Tom
    DeLay is here, leading a House delegation. Senator
    Nelson is here from the Senate. I am honored
    that you all have come. I appreciate you're interested in the subject.
    [Laughter] It is a subject that's important to this administration. It's
    a subject that's mighty important to the country and to the world.
        Two centuries ago, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark left St. Louis
    to explore the new lands acquired in the Louisiana Purchase. They made
    that journey in the spirit of discovery, to learn the potential of vast
    new territory and to chart a way for others to follow. America has
    ventured forth into space for the same reasons. We have undertaken space
    travel because the desire to explore and understand is part of our
    character.
        And that quest has brought tangible benefits that improve our lives
    in countless ways. The exploration of space has led to advances in
    weather forecasting, in communications, in computing, search and rescue
    technology, robotics, and electronics. Our investment in space
    exploration helped to create our satellite telecommunications network
    and the Global Positioning System. Medical technologies that help
    prolong life, such as the imaging processing used in CAT scanners and
    MRI machines, trace their origins to technology engineered for the use
    in space.
        Our current programs and vehicles for exploring space have brought
    us far, and they have served us well. The space shuttle has flown more
    than a hundred missions. It has been used to conduct important research
    and to increase the sum of human knowledge. Shuttle crews and the
    scientists and engineers who support them have helped build the
    International Space Station.
        Telescopes, including those in space, have revealed more than 100
    planets in the last decade alone. Probes have shown us stunning images
    of the rings of Saturn and the outer planets of our solar system.
    Robotic explorers have found evidence of water, a key ingredient for
    life, on Mars and on the moons of Jupiter. At this very hour, the Mars
    Exploration Rover Spirit is searching for evidence of life beyond the
    Earth.
        Yet for all these successes, much remains for us to explore and to
    learn. In the past 30 years, no human being has set foot on another
    world or ventured farther upward into space than 386 miles, roughly the
    distance from Washington, DC, to Boston, Massachusetts. America has not
    developed a new vehicle to advance human exploration in space in nearly
    a quarter-century. It is time for America to take the next steps.
        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. We'll 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 the 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 onboard the station and here on Earth will help us better
    understand and overcome the obstacles that limit exploration. Through
    these

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    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
    shuttle's 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. Eugene Cernan, who is with
    us today, the last man to set foot on the lunar surface, said this as he
    left, ``We leave as we came, and God willing as we shall return, with
    peace and hope for all mankind.'' America will make those words come
    true.
        Returning to the moon is an important step for our space program.
    Establishing an extended human presence on the moon could vastly reduce
    the costs of further space exploration, making possible ever more
    ambitious missions. Lifting heavy spacecraft and fuel out of the Earth's
    gravity is expensive. Spacecraft assembled and provisioned on the moon
    could escape its far lower gravity using far less energy and thus far
    less cost. Also, the moon is home to abundant resources. Its soil
    contains raw materials that might be harvested and processed into rocket
    fuel or breathable air. We can use our time on the moon to develop and
    test new approaches and technologies and systems that will allow us to
    function in other, more challenging environments. 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, we'll 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.
        And along this journey, we'll make many technological breakthroughs.
    We don't know yet what those breakthroughs will be, but we can be
    certain they'll come and that our efforts will be repaid many times
    over. We may discover resources on the moon or Mars that will boggle the
    imagination, that will test our limits to dream. And the fascination
    generated by further exploration will inspire our young people to study
    math and science and engineering

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    and create a new generation of innovators and pioneers.
        This will be a great and unifying mission for NASA, and we know that
    you'll achieve it. I have directed Administrator O'Keefe to review all of NASA's current spaceflight and
    exploration activities and direct them toward the goals I have outlined.
    I will also form a commission of private and public sector experts to
    advise on implementing the vision that I've outlined today. This
    commission will report to me within 4 months of its first meeting. I'm
    today naming former Secretary of the Air Force Pete Aldridge to be the chair of the commission. Thank
    you for being here today, Pete. He has tremendous experience in the
    Department of Defense and the aerospace industry. He is going to begin
    this important work right away.
        We'll 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 a
    spirit of cooperation and friendship.
        Achieving these goals requires a long-term commitment. NASA's
    current 5-year budget is $86 billion. Most of the funding we need for
    the new endeavors will come from reallocating $11 billion within that
    budget. We need some new resources, however. I will call upon Congress
    to increase NASA's budget by roughly a billion dollars, spread out over
    the next 5 years. This increase, along with refocusing of our space
    agency, is a solid beginning to meet the challenges and the goals that
    we set today. It's only a beginning. Future funding decisions will be
    guided by the progress we make in achieving these goals.
        We begin this venture knowing that space travel brings great risks.
    The loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia was less than one year ago. Since
    the beginning of our space program, America has lost 23 astronauts and
    one astronaut from an allied nation, men and women who believed in their
    mission and accepted the dangers. As one family member said, ``The
    legacy of Columbia must carry on--for the benefit of our children and
    yours.'' Columbia's crew did not turn away from the challenge, and
    neither will we.
        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.
        May God bless.

    Note: The President spoke at 3:25 p.m. In his remarks, he referred to C.
    Michael Foale, commander, and Alexander Kaleri, flight engineer,
    Expedition 8, International Space Station; and Senator Bill Nelson of
    Florida.