Last Wednesday, the Moon to Mars Commission set up by Mr Bush in January to look at how to achieve his vision of a return of astronauts to the moon followed by humanexploration of Mars said in its report that NASA must thin its bureaucracy and involve the private sector as much as possible, in everything from earth-bound research to spacecraft launches.
Establishing an extended human presence on the moon could vastly reduce the cost of further space exploration, making possible ever more ambitious missions.
Using the crew exploration vehicle, we will undertake extended human missions to the moon as early as 2015, with the goal of living and working there for increasingly extended periods of time.
With the experience and knowledge gained on the moon, we will then be ready to take the next steps of space exploration: human missions to Mars and to worlds beyond.