NASA's Exploration Workshop Kicks Off Strategy Development

April 28, 2006

Dolores Beasley/Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington
(202) 358-1753/1979

RELEASE: 06-207

NASA'S EXPLORATION WORKSHOP KICKS OFF STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT

Why are we going to the moon? What will we do when we get there?
Approximately 200 participants from 13 countries grappled with these
questions during NASA's Exploration Strategy Workshop, which
concluded Friday.

The four-day workshop was the first in a series of activities planned
for 2006 focusing on defining a strategy for lunar exploration,
including the role of the moon as a stepping stone to Mars and other
destinations.

Attendees included participants from federal agencies, aerospace
companies, academia and entrepreneurial space commercialization
companies. International participation brought attendees from
Australia, Canada, China, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, India,
Italy Japan, South Korea, Russia and Ukraine.

After an initial day of background briefings, participants were
assigned to one of seven multidisciplinary teams to identify the
themes and objectives for lunar exploration and develop a list of
issues and constraints requiring further consideration.

"The collection of ideas, perspectives and justification for lunar
exploration themes gathered from this workshop will be a blueprint
anyone can use whenever a new opportunity for a lunar mission or
activity arises," said NASA's Deputy Administrator Shana Dale.

NASA will be working throughout the summer to integrate the output
from the workshop with several other sources, including submissions
received through a Request for Information issued earlier this month.


For information about the workshop and NASA's exploration efforts,
visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/c


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