Moon Society Joins The Space Exploration Alliance

06/11/04 00:00:00    

By Michael Mealling

PRESS RELEASE: For Immediate Release

Contact: Ian Randal Strock, Director of Publicity

MOON SOCIETY AND SPACE EXPLORATION ALLIANCE CALL FOR “THE MOON, MARS, AND

BEYOND”

In an unprecedented show of unity, the Moon Society and thirteen more of

the nation's premier space advocacy groups, industry associations, and

space policy organizations have teamed up to form the Space Exploration

Alliance. The SEA's first project is to support the effort to refocus

NASA's human space activities toward exploration, including a return to the

Moon and moving on to Mars and beyond.

President Bush's “Moon, Mars, and Beyond” initiative dovetails perfectly

with the Moon Society's tenet that it doesn't take a government to launch

people into space. We echo the sentiment that NASA's proper role in the

development of space is long-term research, development, and exploration.

This initiative, a long-term, feasible plan to permanently inhabit the Moon

and send people to Mars, is precisely the type of effort for which NASA was

formed. It is the type of project that causes people to strive; a fitting

goal for a great society.

Near-term industrialization and the commercialization of space are best

left to the private sector, and in this, we applaud Scaled Composites'

upcoming first commercial launch of a manned spacecraft. It is this

commercialization to which the Moon Society strives; NASA has blazed the

trail into space, and now we expect companies to turn that trail into a

superhighway while NASA continues blazing the trail ever farther into the

heavens.

The organizations involved in the SEA include: Aerospace Industries

Association, Aerospace States Association, American Astronautical Society,

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, California Space

Authority, Florida Space Authority, the Mars Society, the Moon Society,

National Coalition of Spaceport States, National Space Society, the

Planetary Society, ProSpace, Space Access Society, and Space Frontier

Foundation.

Collectively, these groups can count almost one million Americans as

members or as employees of member companies. Their first goal as a group is

to work for broad support of the new national vision for space exploration

outside low Earth orbit. They also intend to aggressively refute the false

impression that “Moon, Mars, and Beyond” is too expensive for this country

to take on. They will demonstrate how modest but steady growth in our

national expenditures on space can move the nation toward these important

goals, and highlight the benefits those expenditures will provide.

As space exploration becomes increasingly integrated with every aspect of

life here on Earth, this new focus on exploration will provide myriad

advances in science and technology, as well as untold economic opportunity.

It will also serve as an inspiration to our nation's youth. Given those

benefits and the many more that lie in store, this new program of human

space exploration beyond low Earth orbit is a vital link to the future of

the United States and the world.

The Moon Society is a non-profit educational and scientific foundation

formed to further scientific study and development of the Moon, located on

the web at www.MoonSociety.org. Some of the Society's goals are:

• Creating a space-faring civilization which will establish communities on the Moon.
• Promoting large-scale industrialization and private enterprise on the Moon.
• Promoting interest in the exploration, research, development, and habitation of the Moon.
• Stimulating and encouraging the development and use of space technologies on Earth and in space.
• Promoting collaboration between various societies and groups interested in developing and utilizing the Moon.