| In 2004, President George W. Bush gave the nation a new Vision for Space Exploration. Even as he was doing so, the Mars rover Spirit was beginning its journey across the Red Planet. Ultimately, Spirit and its companion rover, Opportunity , confirmed that open water had once existed on the surface of Mars, raising the question of whether life may have developed there. Answering that kind of fundamental question is the core of the Vision for Space Exploration. In 2005, NASA will continue to bring the vision to reality by returning the Space Shuttle safely to flight, sending another spacecraft to Mars and developing the tools needed to further explore the Earth, the moon, Mars and beyond. |
