dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (10/04/85)
The National Commission on Space is setting long range priorities for America's space program. More -- after this. October 4 The National Commission on Space Last March the President of the United States appointed fifteen members to the National Commission on Space. Congress has authorized the commission to set the priorities of this country's civilian space program in the exploration and development of space for the next twenty years. Members of the National Commission on Space include Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the surface of the moon; Kathryn Sullivan, the first American woman astronaut to spacewalk outside the shuttle; and Brigadier General Chuck Yeager, the first pilot to fly faster than the speed of sound. Chairman of the commission is Thomas Paine who was Administrator of NASA during the first lunar landings. The commission's report next March will define America's civilian space program for the next two decades -- and set broad guidelines for the next fifty years of space exploration. Proposals could include establishing a permanent base on the moon or sending people to explore the surface of Mars. At a conference this summer sponsored by the Planetary Society and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Paine noted that the same sort of support system to place people permanently on the moon would be needed to support Martian explorers. Some critics have said that Mars could be as well explored for scientific purposes by robotic craft -- that it would be less expensive than sending people -- and the same valuable data could be achieved. It's possible that as major an undertaking as sending people to Mars would require the joint effort of several countries. It's interesting to consider that the exploration of other worlds could be the avenue for better co-operation among nations on this planet. Script by Diana Hadley. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin