In his February 17 call to the International Space Station, President Obama stated “my commitment to NASA is unwavering” and that “one of the things that we’ve done with our NASA ‘Vision for the Future’ is to extend the life of our participation in the Space Station.”
After hearing Astronaut descriptions of some of the research being done on the Space Station, Obama went on to say:
Well, some of the things that you talked about are in line with where we want to see NASA going increasingly: What are those transformational technologies that would allow us to potentially see space travel of longer durations? If we want to get to Mars, if we want to get beyond that, what kinds of technologies are going to be necessary in order for us to make sure that folks can get there in one piece and get back in one piece and that — the kinds of fuels that we use and the technologies we use are going to facilitate something that is actually feasible? And we’re very excited about the possibilities of putting more research dollars into some of these transformational technologies.
A full transcript and video of this event are available on the White House website, but there is no further discussion of space policy.
Isnt it too bad we always get someone in charge that always takes NASA to the extreme. Obama has a vision of absolutely no direction for human space flight with pointless R & D and Bush wanted to get us back to the Moon with plans to get us to Mars and beyond (Which I support). The Republicans with the great vision arent willing to tax the people to fund their program and the Democrats who do raise taxes only want to sit on the nest egg and fund rediculous programs like american tax dollars paying for abortions in Great Britain (Which is the first program ended by Bush when he came into office).
It appears the only way NASA is going to actually go forward is when we get someone who is more middle ground, who has vision and is willing to admit that raising taxes is the only way to fund it. I personally have no problem with a tax hike to fund the mission to the Moon and beyond. Where do people think the government gets the money for these programs anyway.