The U.S. human space program is expected to be redirected away from station-keeping in low-Earth orbit and refocused on a return to the moon and preparation for exploration of nearby asteroids and Mars, according to a major policy announcement slated to be unveiled by President George W. Bush next week. The still-unnamed program will culminate with a landing on the moon in 2013, said Frank Sietzen, a Washington, D.C.-based space policy expert and co-author of "New Moon Rising," an upcoming book about the new exploration initiative.The lunar studies are intended to pave the way for human missions to Mars by 2020. The moon would be used to develop technologies and systems for sustaining human life in space. Bush is expected to request $800 million to kick-start the program during NASA's next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. In addition, the administration plans to request an annual budget increase for NASA of five percent a year to support the new space exploration initiative, according to Sietzen.That increase will fall far short of what would be needed to resume expeditions to the moon, which ended in 1972 with a sixth lunar landing under the Apollo program.
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