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Space Policy Overhaul

September 19, 1996

Those recommendations include transferring some space operations to the private sector, developing cheaper rocket technologies and consolidating military and civilian space programs, according to the report. The review also endorses efforts to conduct space exploration projects with international partners, such as NASA has already undertaken with the space station. The review even encourages easing restrictions on purchasing launch services from foreign firms. Such a move "would have been shocking a few years ago, but not now," an Administration official told the .

September 19, 1996

THE DAILY FED

Space Policy Overhaul

The White House is set to announce today that it is abandoning the Bush Administration's goal of putting a man on Mars by 2019 in favor of conducting robotic exploration of the planet by the year 2000, according to reports by the Associated Press and The Washington Post. Clinton Administration officials rejected the idea of human exploration of Mars as simply too costly.

The new Mars policy is included in a major Administration review of space policy. The review, which took 18 months to complete, marks the first comprehensive overhaul of space policy since the end of the Cold War. It includes several recommendations for consolidating space projects and cutting costs.

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The new space policy document sets the stage for a "summit" meeeting in December on the future of the space program involving Administration officials, military leaders and Members of Congress.

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