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American Morning
Bush's Space Proposal
Aired January 09, 2004 - 07:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The president wants America to go to Mars, and not just with a rover. A major policy speech is expected very soon, and our senior White House correspondent, John King, with more on that today from the Front Lawn.
John -- good morning there.
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill.
That speech will come next Wednesday, we are told by senior administration officials. And in it, the president will embrace most of the recommendations of an ambitious review by his senior staff of setting a new mission for NASA, the space mission -- the space program. Excuse the noise behind me. We have some snow here at the White House today they're trying to clear up.
The president will deliver that speech next Wednesday, and he will set this goal: a return, first, for NASA to the moon. NASA's target is for the year 2018, so still a ways off, but a lot of planning needs to be done for such a dramatic return to the moon -- the first time in more than 30 years the United States would attempt to land on the moon.
And it's not just landing on the moon. Another goal of this new program will be to set up a permanent base on the moon. And that permanent base, manned quite a bit of the time with scientists and researchers, would be used eventually, if all goes according to plan, to launch a manned mission to Mars -- excuse me -- sometime down the road.
Now, the president will lay all of this out next week. One thing he will not say yet is how much will all of this cost. It is billions and tens of billions of dollars. That will be controversial, given the budget deficits in this country right now.
And a number of other critical decisions have to be made Bill, including retiring the shuttle fleet, settling on a new vehicle to be used for man's spaceflight. But the president is hoping that this dramatic goal of returning to the moon and perhaps eventually sending men to Mars will unite the nation, perhaps captivate the imagination. This is an election year as well. We should make that point -- Bill.
HEMMER: And it is. Midweek next week that speech comes. John, thanks -- John King at the White House today.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired January 9, 2004 - 07:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The president wants America to go to Mars, and not just with a rover. A major policy speech is expected very soon, and our senior White House correspondent, John King, with more on that today from the Front Lawn.
John -- good morning there.
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill.
That speech will come next Wednesday, we are told by senior administration officials. And in it, the president will embrace most of the recommendations of an ambitious review by his senior staff of setting a new mission for NASA, the space mission -- the space program. Excuse the noise behind me. We have some snow here at the White House today they're trying to clear up.
The president will deliver that speech next Wednesday, and he will set this goal: a return, first, for NASA to the moon. NASA's target is for the year 2018, so still a ways off, but a lot of planning needs to be done for such a dramatic return to the moon -- the first time in more than 30 years the United States would attempt to land on the moon.
And it's not just landing on the moon. Another goal of this new program will be to set up a permanent base on the moon. And that permanent base, manned quite a bit of the time with scientists and researchers, would be used eventually, if all goes according to plan, to launch a manned mission to Mars -- excuse me -- sometime down the road.
Now, the president will lay all of this out next week. One thing he will not say yet is how much will all of this cost. It is billions and tens of billions of dollars. That will be controversial, given the budget deficits in this country right now.
And a number of other critical decisions have to be made Bill, including retiring the shuttle fleet, settling on a new vehicle to be used for man's spaceflight. But the president is hoping that this dramatic goal of returning to the moon and perhaps eventually sending men to Mars will unite the nation, perhaps captivate the imagination. This is an election year as well. We should make that point -- Bill.
HEMMER: And it is. Midweek next week that speech comes. John, thanks -- John King at the White House today.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
