Destination: Mars, Urges The Planetary Society

The Planetary Society is mobilizing its members and the general public to write President Bush in support of a human space exploration program geared towards the ultimate goal of landing men and women on Mars.

"The U.S. human space flight program has been bogged down in Earth orbit for more than 30 years," said Louis Friedman, Executive Director of The Planetary Society. "It is time to move outward."

Friedman, in a letter to Society members, writes: "The future of the United States space program is at stake. Its human space flight program is grounded, and the purposes that it serves are being questioned, in Congress, in the media, and in the general public. The Bush Administration is now conducting a high level review of U.S. space policy, with the goal of issuing a Presidential Directive, perhaps in a few weeks. It may set the course for human space flight, and all space exploration, for a generation."

The Planetary Society urges those who favor human space exploration to seize the moment and write the President while U.S. space policy is being formulated.

Recently, the Society's Chairman of the Board, Bruce Murray, and Society President, Wesley T. Huntress, Jr. testified to the House Science Committee, recommending that America's human space flight program be drastically revised to include the ultimate goal of establishing a human outpost on Mars.

To read their full congressional testimony, go to The Planetary Society’s website. Additionally, the web site includes such background information as the conclusions and recommendations from a recent workshop about the future of human space transportation endorsed by The Planetary Society and the American Astronautical Society.