A report by Space Lift Washington and published by NASA Watch suggests a major new space policy initiative is under consideration and may be announced by US President George Bush at celebrations planned for the centenary of flight at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina December 17th. As the full implications sinks in of funding three decades of a space program with no serious long term policy planning, Congress has become increasingly hesitant to offer NASA a blank check anymore.

From a variety of backgrounds and constituencies, pressure is being placed on Congress and the Bush Administration to get serious about space.

Arguing that the problem is not so much any perceived threats from China, many seasoned industry professionals are pointing to the public fiscal responsibilities of Congress to oversee NASA's spending, and the mounting pressure from the commercial sector that wants a new deal for space vendors that sees the cosy big aerospace dominance of the industry - and funding - broken up.

In among all this is the assumption that the US cannot end its human spaceflight program. And if the money is to be spent, then it should be spent with specific national technology and industry goals in place - including measures to encourage new suppliers to offer services at what is hoped will be lower prices.

According to Space Lift Washington, President Bush may announce at Kitty Hawk a return to manned lunar exploration but without any specific massive new funding, forcing NASA to get serious about what it wants to do with it considerable human spaceflight assets and decades of experience.

The initiative by Bush follows a year-long review of the future directions of the American space program in the immediate decades ahead.

Space Lift's Frank Sietzen quoting Washington sources writes that a central recommendation maybe the "resumption of manned lunar flights to develop advanced technologies that can support U.S. astronauts working beyond Earth orbit to not only the Moon, but eventually to near-Earth asteroids and Mars."...