Journey To Inspire Innovate And Discover

Chairman: Edward C. "Pete" Aldridge, Jr.

On Jan. 14, 2004, Pres. Bush announced a new vision for the U.S. civil space program based upon exploration of the Moon, Mars, & beyond. Then he created a Comm. to examine & make recommendations on implementing this new vision. This is the final report of the Commission. Contents: The Space Exploration Vision; Organizing the U.S. Gov't. for Success: Nat. Vision, Transforming, & NASA, & Enabling Technol.; Building a Robust Space Industry: Technology Transfer, Encouraging Commercial Activities, & International Participation; Exploration & Science Agenda; Inspiring Current & Future Generations: Formal Educ. Opportunities, New Univ. Partnerships to Train the Next Generation of Explorers, & Public Engagement. Illustrations.

In January 2004, President George W. Bush created the President's Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy--A Journey to Inspire, Innovate, and Discover is the Commission's final report. The Commission sought extensive input for its deliberations, from within the U.S. government and directly from the public in the United States and abroad. They held five televised public hearings, and heard public testimony from 96 individuals representing academia, industry, media, teachers, students, entrepreneurs, astronauts, labor unions, state governments, federal government agencies, international space agencies, and professional associations. Public comments strongly supported the new space vision, by a 7-to-1 ratio. The Commission fully supports the President's vision and finds that this journey of exploration will sustain vital national objectives here on Earth. It will provide inspiration for our youth to enter technical fields, generate economic benefit to our nation through the creation of additional technical jobs, improve the competitiveness of our industrial base in the world marketplace, provide clear recognition of America's leadership, and improve prosperity and the quality of life for all Americans. The Commission concludes that fundamental changes must take place in how the nation approaches space exploration and manages the vision for success. This national effort calls for a transformation of NASA, building a robust international space industry, a discovery-based science agenda, and educational initiatives to support youth and teachers inspired by the vision.

On January 27, 2004, the President signed an Executive Order creating a Presidential Commission “to obtain recommendations concerning implementation of the new vision for space exploration activities of the United States.” The Commission was chartered to make recommendations to the President on the following: Science research agenda to be conducted on the Moon and other destinations as well as human and robotic science activities that advance our capacity to achieve the policy; The exploration of technologies, demonstrations, and strategies, including the use of lunar and other in situ natural resources, that could be used for sustainable human robotic exploration; Criteria that could be used to select future destinations for human exploration; Long-term organization options for managing implementation of space exploration activities; The most appropriate and effective roles for potential private-sector and international participants in implementing the policy; Methods for optimizing space exploration activities to encourage the interest of America’s youth in studying and pursuing careers in mathematics, science, and engineering; and Management of the implementation of the policy within available resources The nine Commissioners appointed by President come from industry, government service, academia, and the military. Collectively, they experience in space operations, technology, space science, and senior federal government management. The Commission conducted extensive public outreach, as described in the chairman’s transmittal letter and in several appendices to this report. This report represents the consensus recommendations of all nine Commissioners.

The United States has publicly funded its human spaceflight program on a continuous basis for more than a half-century, through three wars and a half-dozen recessions, from the early Mercury and Gemini suborbital and Earth orbital missions, to the lunar landings, and thence to the first reusable winged crewed spaceplane that the United States operated for three decades. Today the United States is the major partner in a massive orbital facility - the International Space Station - that is becoming the focal point for the first tentative steps in commercial cargo and crewed orbital space flights. And yet, the long-term future of human spaceflight beyond this project is unclear. Pronouncements by multiple presidents of bold new ventures by Americans to the Moon, to Mars, and to an asteroid in its native orbit, have not been matched by the same commitment that accompanied President Kennedy\'s now fabled 1961 speech-namely, the substantial increase in NASA funding needed to make it happen. Are we still committed to advancing human spaceflight? What should a long-term goal be, and what does the United States need to do to achieve it? Pathways to Exploration explores the case for advancing this endeavor, drawing on the history of rationales for human spaceflight, examining the attitudes of stakeholders and the public, and carefully assessing the technical and fiscal realities. This report recommends maintaining the long-term focus on Mars as the horizon goal for human space exploration. With this goal in mind, the report considers funding levels necessary to maintain a robust tempo of execution, current research and exploration projects and the time/resources needed to continue them, and international cooperation that could contribute to the achievement of spaceflight to Mars. According to Pathways to Exploration, a successful U.S. program would require sustained national commitment and a budget that increases by more than the rate of inflation. In reviving a U.S. human exploration program capable of answering the enduring questions about humanity's destiny beyond our tiny blue planet, the nation will need to grapple with the attitudinal and fiscal realities of the nation today while staying true to a small but crucial set of fundamental principles for the conduct of exploration of the endless frontier. The recommendations of Pathways to Exploration provide a clear map toward a human spaceflight program that inspires students and citizens by furthering human exploration and discovery, while taking into account the long-term commitment necessary to achieve this goal.

On 29 July 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which became operational on 1 October of that year. Over the next 50 years, NASA achieved a set of spectacular feats, ranging from advancing the well-established field of aeronautics to pioneering the new fields of Earth and space science and human spaceflight. In the midst of the geopolitical context of the Cold War, 12 Americans walked on the Moon, arriving in peace “for all mankind.” Humans saw their home planet from a new perspective, with unforgettable Apollo images of Earthrise and the “Blue Marble,” as well as the “pale blue dot” from the edge of the solar system. A flotilla of spacecraft has studied Earth, while other spacecraft have probed the depths of the solar system and the universe beyond. In the 1980s, the evolution of aeronautics gave us the first winged human spacecraft, the Space Shuttle, and the International Space Station stands as a symbol of human cooperation in space as well as a possible way station to the stars. With the Apollo fire and two Space Shuttle accidents, NASA has also seen the depths of tragedy. In this volume, a wide array of scholars turn a critical eye toward NASA’s first 50 years, probing an institution widely seen as the premier agency for exploration in the world, carrying on a long tradition of exploration by the United States and the human species in general. Fifty years after its founding, NASA finds itself at a crossroads that historical perspectives can only help to illuminate.

In March 2005, the NASA History Division and the Division of Space History at the National Air and Space Museum brought together a distinguished group of scholars to consider the state of the discipline of space history. This volume is a collection of essays based on those deliberations. The meeting took place at a time of extraordinary transformation for NASA, stemming from the new Vision of Space Exploration announced by President George W. Bush in January 204: to go to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. This Vision, in turn, stemmed from a deep reevaluation of NASA?s goals in the wake of the Space Shuttle Columbia accident and the recommendations of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. The new goals were seen as initiating a "New Age of Exploration" and were placed in the context of the importance of exploration and discovery to the American experiences. (Amazon).