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Experts Say: Restore funding and enhance international outreach to put humans on Mars
http://www.planetary.org/programs/pr...he_vision.html

For more information, download (4.3MB PDF) Examining the Vision for Space Exploration: Workshop Findings and Roadmap Analysis, presented at the International Astronautical Federation Congress in Glasgow, Scotland, September 2008.

It is time to go beyond LEO with people as explorers. The purpose of sustained human exploration is to go to Mars and beyond. The significance of the Moon and other intermediate destinations is to serve as steppingstones on the path to that goal.

Bringing together scientists, astronauts, engineers, policy analysts, and industry executives in a single conversation created an environment where insights across traditional boundaries occurred.

Human space exploration is undertaken to serve national and international interests. It provides important opportunities to advance science, but science is not the primary motivation.

Sustained human exploration requires enhanced international collaboration and offers the United States an opportunity for global leadership.

NASA has not received the budget increases to support the mandated human exploration program as well as other vital parts of the NASA portfolio, including space science, aeronautics, technology requirements, and especially Earth observations, given the urgency of global climate change.

Additional recommendations will be provided by the organizers and participants in this workshop.

Download Beyond the Moon: A New Roadmap for Human Space Exploration in the 21st Century (2.9 MB PDF)