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Mars Society Meets With NASA Transition Team
On December 16, 2008, Mars Society Executive Director Chris Carberry and Mars Society Steering Committee member Dr. Steve McDaniel met with members of the NASA Transition Team at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
"We presented them with a
bold agenda to accelerate plans to move beyond low Earth Orbit and
land humans on Mars," said Carberry. "We also emphasized the importance
of increasing efforts to engage the advocacy community, since we are a
natural resource that NASA has not utilized very well in the past. We
certainly hope that our message resonated with them."
Some of the themes discussed at the meeting included: the need for continued support for heavy lift capability, accelerating development of new launch vehicles, and setting much more ambitious target dates for returning to the Moon and going on to Mars – dates that will inspire and motivate all Americans. A key message was that this is not the time to start scaling back the scope of human spaceflight. A full copy of the talking points given to the transition team is available here.
President-elect Barack Obama campaigned on a promise of change and hope. In a time of great economic and geopolitical challenge, nothing has more potential to fulfill the promise of that campaign, integrate diverse interests, and unify generations of Americans, than the prospect of a reinvigorated and revitalized U.S. space program. Carberry and McDaniel explained that if the Obama administration truly embraces a bold mission, the Mars Society is in a unique position to help promote that message.
"The Obama NASA transition have clearly taken to heart lessons resulting from Obama's historic use of a grassroots level Internet network, and they realize just how powerful a network of grassroots space enthusiasts can be," said McDaniel. "The Mars Society itself has a historic potential to assist in building an Internet resource of space advocates that can be a powerful voice at the space policy roundtable that advises Mr. Obama."
It is up to us to convince this new administration that an ambitious plan to send humans to Mars serves the best interests of the United States, as well as all other nations of the world.
All members of The Mars Society as well as all those who desire an ambitious future can tell the Obama transition team your opinions on what policies they should advance by going to www.change.gov (see our previous announcement for more details).
Some of the themes discussed at the meeting included: the need for continued support for heavy lift capability, accelerating development of new launch vehicles, and setting much more ambitious target dates for returning to the Moon and going on to Mars – dates that will inspire and motivate all Americans. A key message was that this is not the time to start scaling back the scope of human spaceflight. A full copy of the talking points given to the transition team is available here.
President-elect Barack Obama campaigned on a promise of change and hope. In a time of great economic and geopolitical challenge, nothing has more potential to fulfill the promise of that campaign, integrate diverse interests, and unify generations of Americans, than the prospect of a reinvigorated and revitalized U.S. space program. Carberry and McDaniel explained that if the Obama administration truly embraces a bold mission, the Mars Society is in a unique position to help promote that message.
"The Obama NASA transition have clearly taken to heart lessons resulting from Obama's historic use of a grassroots level Internet network, and they realize just how powerful a network of grassroots space enthusiasts can be," said McDaniel. "The Mars Society itself has a historic potential to assist in building an Internet resource of space advocates that can be a powerful voice at the space policy roundtable that advises Mr. Obama."
It is up to us to convince this new administration that an ambitious plan to send humans to Mars serves the best interests of the United States, as well as all other nations of the world.
All members of The Mars Society as well as all those who desire an ambitious future can tell the Obama transition team your opinions on what policies they should advance by going to www.change.gov (see our previous announcement for more details).
