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American Morning
New Focus on Space
Aired January 14, 2004 - 07:04 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is reaching for the moon and beyond. Today, he's going to propose an ambitious and expensive policy for space exploration, including sending crews to the moon and to Mars.
More now from Miles O'Brien, who is live for us in Washington this morning.
Hey -- Miles. Good morning.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
The president will call on Congress to increase NASA's budget by about $1 billion a year over the next five years. It represents a fundamental transformation of the space program.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN (voice-over): For 30 years, NASA has been flying in circles, and now it's getting a whole new direction. The Bush plan, in a nutshell: finish the International Space Station, retire the aging space shuttle fleet, and then move on to the moon first and then ultimately to Mars.
MARK SCHLATHER, PROSPACE: I don't think it's dead on arrival. It will be debated. It's a question of how much they are going to ask for and how soon.
M. O'BRIEN: To start the ball rolling, high-ranking administration sources say they will ask Congress four 5 percent annual increases in NASA's $15 billion budget for the next five years.
The proposal calls for putting the space shuttle in museums by 2010. NASA will then put all of its eggs into a new crew exploration vehicle, which could reach the moon possibly by 2013 to test technology and offer a way station to the red planet, which could loom as a destination 10 years later. Is it enough?
SEN. BILL NELSON (D), FLORIDA: The first year after Kennedy announced the Apollo program, the NASA budget was doubled. And in the second year, it doubled, again. That's not realistic today. But 5 percent a year increases is not going to get us to the moon by 2013.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: NASA does not suggest it will, however. It says the money, which is being proposed today, is more akin to seed money, and it will more narrowly focus the debate as to where, once that system is designed and built, just exactly where NASA will fly -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: OK. Well, if the money is going to be seed money, obviously you and I both know that these are very expensive journeys and even just research into journeys being proposed. Where will the money come from? What do you think is going to happen there?
M. O'BRIEN: Well, it's an outright increase that the administration is asking for, which is unusual, because at a time of fiscal austerity, really the Pentagon and homeland security are the only other two areas in the federal budget getting a bump.
What NASA also intends to do, Soledad, is as the shuttle program and station programs wind down, money which is invested on them, combined about $6 billion a year, the money will be funneled into this new effort.
S. O'BRIEN: Miles O'Brien is live for us in Washington, D.C. this morning. Miles, nice to see you. Thanks a lot.
M. O'BRIEN: All right.
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 14, 2004 - 07:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is reaching for the moon and beyond. Today, he's going to propose an ambitious and expensive policy for space exploration, including sending crews to the moon and to Mars.
More now from Miles O'Brien, who is live for us in Washington this morning.
Hey -- Miles. Good morning.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
The president will call on Congress to increase NASA's budget by about $1 billion a year over the next five years. It represents a fundamental transformation of the space program.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN (voice-over): For 30 years, NASA has been flying in circles, and now it's getting a whole new direction. The Bush plan, in a nutshell: finish the International Space Station, retire the aging space shuttle fleet, and then move on to the moon first and then ultimately to Mars.
MARK SCHLATHER, PROSPACE: I don't think it's dead on arrival. It will be debated. It's a question of how much they are going to ask for and how soon.
M. O'BRIEN: To start the ball rolling, high-ranking administration sources say they will ask Congress four 5 percent annual increases in NASA's $15 billion budget for the next five years.
The proposal calls for putting the space shuttle in museums by 2010. NASA will then put all of its eggs into a new crew exploration vehicle, which could reach the moon possibly by 2013 to test technology and offer a way station to the red planet, which could loom as a destination 10 years later. Is it enough?
SEN. BILL NELSON (D), FLORIDA: The first year after Kennedy announced the Apollo program, the NASA budget was doubled. And in the second year, it doubled, again. That's not realistic today. But 5 percent a year increases is not going to get us to the moon by 2013.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: NASA does not suggest it will, however. It says the money, which is being proposed today, is more akin to seed money, and it will more narrowly focus the debate as to where, once that system is designed and built, just exactly where NASA will fly -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: OK. Well, if the money is going to be seed money, obviously you and I both know that these are very expensive journeys and even just research into journeys being proposed. Where will the money come from? What do you think is going to happen there?
M. O'BRIEN: Well, it's an outright increase that the administration is asking for, which is unusual, because at a time of fiscal austerity, really the Pentagon and homeland security are the only other two areas in the federal budget getting a bump.
What NASA also intends to do, Soledad, is as the shuttle program and station programs wind down, money which is invested on them, combined about $6 billion a year, the money will be funneled into this new effort.
S. O'BRIEN: Miles O'Brien is live for us in Washington, D.C. this morning. Miles, nice to see you. Thanks a lot.
M. O'BRIEN: All right.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
