The Planetary Society Congratulates President Obama on His Re-Election, Calls for a Commitment to Space Exploration
The Planetary Society congratulates President Barack Obama on his Re-Election this Tuesday. The Society looks forward to continuing to work with the Administration on the important issues relating to space exploration.
The Planetary Society believes that a strong space program is reflective of a strong nation. As our economy continues to rebound, we call on President Obama to invest in our future by making a strong commitment to increase NASA’s capacity to pursue groundbreaking robotic and human space missions during the next four years.
The first step along this path would be to restore NASA’s Planetary Science funding to $1.5 billion in the upcoming 2014 budget. The small amount of money returned to NASA would immediately be put to work in developing the next major missions to return a piece of Mars to Earth and to investigate Jupiter’s ice-moon, Europa. These two major missions would challenge our best engineers and scientists, and create high-tech, highly-skilled jobs across the country.
The President has taken strong steps in the past to develop a new commercial space industry, and we encourage him to continue funding both commercial supply and crew transportation programs. These exciting programs have the potential to fundamentally change and lower the cost of missions to low-Earth orbit. This, in turn, will enable NASA to reach farther and deeper into space with both robotic spacecraft and human explorers.
NASA represents the best qualities of our nation and our ability to work peacefully with countries around the world. Opportunities abound for cooperative missions with the Europeans, Japanese, and others, to share both the cost and the rewards of big missions. By committing to a strong space program, the President will ensure a stronger economy and stronger international ties.
The Planetary Society calls on all members of the new Congress to work with the President on funding and overseeing a strong national space program that is provided with challenging goals, strong leadership, and the resources required to achieve its mission.
About the Planetary Society
The Planetary Society has inspired millions of people to explore other worlds and seek other life. Today, its international membership makes the non-governmental Planetary Society the largest space interest group in the world. Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray and Louis Friedman founded The Planetary Society in 1980. Bill Nye, a long-time member of the Planetary Society’s Board, serves as CEO.
The Planetary Society
85 South Grand Ave
Pasadena, CA 91105 USA
Web: www.planetary.org
Voice: (626) 793-5100
Email: tps@planetary.org
