Ride Panel Backs Moon Base Over Trip to Mars

A NASA panel headed by astronaut Sally K. Ride will recommend development of a manned lunar base as the nation’s next goal in space instead of a more glamorous flight to Mars, officials said Monday.

But Ride, the first American woman in space and a veteran of two shuttle flights, told Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine that a manned outpost on the moon could serve as a stepping stone to Mars and that exploration of the red planet should remain as an ultimate American space objective.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration spokesman Ed Campion in Washington confirmed the report, saying that Ride reviewed the magazine story and found “no problems with it.” Ride could not be reached for comment Monday.

“The correct approach is to move slowly and responsibly from low Earth orbit and to first explore the moon,” Ride told the magazine. “There are a lot of good reasons to go back to the moon.

“The U.S. did not finish the job we started during the Apollo project. There is still a lot of lunar exploration, lunar science and research on advanced technologies to be done,” she said.

Technology Simplified

Another advantage is that the moon is just three to four days away from Earth, simplifying technology requirements. A trip to Mars, on the other hand, would take at least a year and probably longer.

Ride’s 10-member study team is scheduled to deliver its report to NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher by Aug. 3. If the major elements of the report are implemented, American astronauts could return to the moon’s surface as early as 2000, Aviation Week said.

Ride told the magazine that she expects NASA to initiate two major studies in the near future, one devoted to the lunar base concept and the other to studying how the base could be used as a stepping stone to Mars.

Along with planning a return to the moon, Ride said another high-priority objective should be an intensive, international Earth-observation program, called “Mission to Earth,” that would feature up to nine orbital science platforms to gain a better understanding of “the total Earth system.”

Ride, who will resign from NASA next month to join a California arms control think tank, currently is serving as acting assistant administrator of the office of exploration.