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Human Exploration of Mars
The Planetary Society Completes Grassroots Campaign in Support of
Human Exploration of Mars November 26, 2003: On November 10 of this year, The Planetary Society launched a grassroots campaign aimed at the President of the United States with a clear purpose in mind: to convince the President that sending humans to Mars the should be NASA's primary goal in the coming decades. Sixteen days and thousands of messages to the White House later, the campaign has proved an unqualified success. We have been heard, and we strongly believe that our position will help shape the President's space policy. The Society's grassroots campaign was planned to coincide with a general review of space policy that is currently taking place in the White House. Once the review is completed, the President is expected to issue a directive to NASA, outlining the goals of the American space program for the coming years. At this critical juncture, it was crucial that the Society and its supporters raise their voices in support of a strong commitment for the human exploration of Mars. The Society's position was recently outlined in statements to Congress by the Society's Chairman of the Board, Bruce Murray, and Society President, Wesley T. Huntress, Jr. They urged that America's human space flight program be drastically revised, and aimed at human exploration beyond Earth orbit with the ultimate goal of establishing a human outpost on Mars. The current shuttle-focused program has shackled us to Earth orbit for more than 30 years, and promises to do so for an additional two decades. Even the International Space Station drifts aimlessly. A Mars directed program would change all that, by providing a single unifying goal for human and robotic space ventures. The Society advocates a national commitment to a progressive, well-paced Mars human flight program, which can be accomplished within realistic funding levels. The call for a focused space program, aimed at placing humans on Mars, was taken up by space enthusiasts around the world. Within three days of the launch of the campaign, 1900 messages were faxed to the White House in support of the Society's position. Overall, during the campaign's duration, 2347 messages were faxed to the White House, 30 messages were e-mailed, and 277 messages were printed out and sent by regular mail. We thank all our friends and supporters who joined us in this critical campaign to help shape the American space policy. The fight, however, is by no means over. As the debate over the future of space exploration rages in Washington, Europe, and around the world, we may again be called upon to speak out for a higher vision of humans in space. Be sure to check The Planetary Society's website, http://planetary.org, for future campaigns. Working together, we may yet see the first humans on Mars in our lifetime. |
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