Bush offers plan to go to moon — and beyond

President Bush's declaration Wednesday that the United States will return to the moon — and eventually launch manned trips to Mars "to see and examine and touch for ourselves" — is earning high, if sometimes cautious, praise from Utah companies and individuals interested in space exploration.

Among them is Kim Hyatt, an astronomy enthusiast from Salt Lake City who recalled that space exploration was once imagined as a step-by-step advance into the realms beyond Earth. But, he said, the Cold War space race consumed and overshadowed that approach.

"This is the first time that I have heard of anything in over 40 years that even approaches what had been envisioned by sensible, rational people in the beginning," he said.

"Today," Bush said at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., "I announce a new plan to explore space and extend a human presence across our solar system. We will begin the effort quickly, using existing programs and personnel."

The president said $11 billion in NASA funding already earmarked over the next five years would be shifted into the initiative. Meanwhile, he will request an additional $1 billion from Congress in appropriations spread out over five years.

Melodie DeGuibert, spokeswoman for ATK Thiokol Propulsion, said her northern Utah firm "supports the president's bold vision to return to the moon and travel to Mars." ATK Thiokol, with offices and a test and assembly area near Promontory, Box Elder County, builds the giant boosters for the space shuttle.

Gail Bingham, the chief scientist at Utah State University's Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, is elated about the proposals. USU will be working to genetically engineer plants that will supply astronauts on the moon or Mars, he said.

But some also expressed concerns about political support and funding.

Patrick Wiggins, NASA solar system ambassador to Utah, said political support might evaporate as it did after Americans originally landed on the moon in 1969 and then into the early '70s. Still, he was excited about the prospect, commenting before the speech because he was headed out of town.

The president's election-year proposals did generate some criticism, including from members of Congress. Some Democrats point to the federal government's growing budget deficit, now at $500 billion, and say the administration should take care of problems at home before setting its sights on costly space initiatives.