The United States aim for space exploration leadership

According to the US Vice President Mike Pence, Americans are preparing for intensive space explorations in the near future.

 

As the VP has recently named an advisory body named the National Space Council, the U.S. is expected to aim at new advances in the space traveling field. According to Pence’s statements earlier this week, Americans will build a "new era" of space travel, with both Moon and Mars missions in the schedule.

The Vice President offered few details about planned explorations, but joined the NASA's Kennedy Space Center in order to attend the construction phases of a NASA deep space missions spaceship, especially designed to launch astronauts to the low orbit of our planet. SpaceX and Boeing are the two companies that will build the capsules.

"Our nation will return to the Moon, and we will put American boots on the face of Mars. We did win the race to the Moon," Pence declared for the Space Center’s audience.

For instance, the Deep Space Gateway project by NASA will use the Space Launch System rocket to send explorers near the Moon, while the missions to Mars are programmed around 2030, as a result of Barack Obama and George W. Bush previous space-related policies.

The relaunch of a strong space program was taken into consideration due to the fact that back in 2011 the United States has stopped sending its astronauts to the International Space Station, as the program was retired. Since then, American explorers use Russia's Soyuz spacecraft for prices as high as $80 million per seat.

Therefore, the Vice President also underlined the importance of the private industry developments, in order to make space travel safer and more affordable. No other specifics were yet provided though, as details on the administration's vision for both NASA and the commercial space flight industry are expected to be revealed during the next months.

"We will get back to winning in the 21st century and beyond," Mike Pence concluded.

As the current Trump administration proposed a $19.1 billion budget for NASA, with a 0.8 per cent decrease when compared with the figures last year, the agency is fighting to make its own adjustments to the budget, in order to be able to complete its projects. The final call will be decided by lawmakers later this year.

 

Source: phys.org