On January
14, 2004 President Bush
announced a new vision for NASA, the U.S. government space
agency,
including further manned exploration of the moon by 2020 and
a
commitment to send people to Mars after that. A
presidential
commission produced a report on "The Moon, Mars, and
Beyond." Is
this a realistic goal? Can the federal government
afford to do
it? Will it have the necessary political support?
Should NASA be
the one to do it?
(Some Mars enthusiasts believe going to Mars should be done
by private
industry, not a federal agency).