NASA foresees shared burden

Published: Nov 02, 2005
Source: washingtontimes.com



NASA Administrator Michael Griffin yesterday said the United States will take the lead in constructing a "21st-century space highway," but that the brunt of the financial burden will not be carried by American taxpayers.
Instead, U.S. officials will work with the space agencies of other nations and the private business sector to develop the new frontier of human activity.

"The United States working alone cannot fulfill the sweeping goals of the 'Vision for Space Exploration,'" Mr. Griffin said of President Bush's plan that eventually leads to Mars.
"We must maintain the strong international partnerships that have been built during the space station era, and we must extend those partnerships even more broadly to enable a robust human space exploration," Mr. Griffin said at a Center for Strategic and International Studies workshop on space exploration and international cooperation.
Today marks the five-year anniversary of continuous human presence aboard the orbiting laboratory built and maintained at an expected cost of $100 billion by NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency, the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The space station has hosted more than 100 visitors from 10 countries and is a vital link in the Earth-to-Mars mission.continue..