Curious Cautionary Caveat on NASA Future Mission Artwork

Editor’s note: Why do virtually all of the images in this NASA Human Spaceflight website gallery of exploration concepts still have this cautionary caveat attached to them? This would seem to leave the impression with visitors to the website that NASA is still unsure of what the President has charged them to do. Indeed these words of caution often outnumber the words used to describe what concepts and activities the image portrays.

“Note: NASA currently has no formal plans for a human expedition to Mars or the Moon. This image and others displayed may not reflect the hardware and overall concept of possible visits to either of those celestial bodies. However, the art work represented here serves as a comprehensive study of various concepts and ideas developed as possibilities over a period of years. The renderings were accomplished by NASA and/or NASA-commissioned artists.”