Reagan Announces Space Plan

President Reagan announced an ambitious and costly plan today to rejuvenate America’s space program with a permanent space station and the development of technology for sending humans back to the moon and to Mars.

The national space policy unveiled at the White House also supports strong commercial programs by the private sector, endorses development of a large unmanned rocket and calls for enhancing the capabilities of the space shuttle. The new directive should give the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s various programs a sharper focus after two years of disruption following the loss of the shuttle Challenger and its seven crew members.