President Bush recently unveiled a plan that would have the United States back in space. The President's plan outlines returning to the moon as a stepping stone for a future manned mission to Mars. The plan can be broken into three main steps. First, the United States will complete its work on the International Space Station which ends in 2010. This will allow the United States to keep its agreement with the fifteen partner countries which inhabit the space station and also allow for further research and development. During the next six years, NASA will use the space station to form a better understanding of the effects of space travel and thus increase overall astronaut safety. The second step in President Bush's plan is the development of a new manned exploration vehicle. The hope is that the new vehicle will be developed and tested by 2008 and used in an actual mission no later than 2014. The final step to this process is the actual space exploration. America will return to the moon as early as 2015 and no later than 2020. These moon missions will serve as stepping stones for future mars missions. NASA will continue unmanned exploration of mars, while astronauts visiting the moon will attempt to harness the resources in preparation for possible lunar communities. .
So far there have been several proponents of Bush's new plan. These proponents have several key argument points as to why space exploration would benefit America. One of the arguments is that the United States is a country based on exploration and new discoveries. What better way to showcase this policy than by sending astronauts to mars? .
Another argumentative point is that space exploration has shown the ability.
to enhance development in numerous fields besides aerospace technology. .
Previous space endeavors have yielded some of the biggest technological.
breakthroughs in American history. Image processing used in CAT scans and MRI's were based on technology stemming from NASA's computer enhanced pictures of the moon.