NASA

I'd like to meet:

NASA's FUTURE---- NASA's ongoing investigations include in-depth surveys of Mars and Saturn and studies of the Earth and Sun. Other NASA spacecraft are presently en route to Mercury and Pluto. With missions to Jupiter in planning stages, NASA's itinerary covers over half the solar system.----NASA's Phoenix mission launched on August 4, 2007. It will search for possible underground water courses in the northern Martian pole. This lander revives much of its experiments and instrumentation from the failed 1999 Mars Polar Lander, hence its name. An improved and larger rover, Mars Science Laboratory, is under construction and slated to launch in 2009. On the horizon of NASA's plans are two possibilities under consideration for the Mars 2011 mission.-----The New Horizons mission to Pluto was launched in 2006 and will fly by Pluto in 2015. The probe received a gravity assist from Jupiter in February 2007, examining some of Jupiter's inner moons and testing on-board instruments during the fly-by.-----Future NASA Launch Missions:--- http://www.nasa.gov/missions/highlights/schedule.html------- ---Vision for Space Exploration------ On January 14, 2004, ten days after the landing of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, President George W. Bush announced a new plan for NASA's future, dubbed the Vision for Space Exploration. According to this plan, humankind will return to the Moon by 2018, and set up outposts as a testbed and potential resource for future missions. The space shuttle will be retired in 2010 and Orion will replace it by 2014, capable of both docking with the ISS and leaving the Earth's orbit. The future of the ISS is somewhat uncertain — construction will be completed, but beyond that is less clear. Although the plan initially met with skepticism from Congress, in late 2004 Congress agreed to provide start-up funds for the first year's worth of the new space vision. -------Orion Contractor Selected 31 August 2006, at NASA Headquarters Hoping to spur innovation from the private sector, NASA established a series of Centennial Challenges, technology prizes for non-government teams, in 2004. The Challenges include tasks that will be useful for implementing the Vision for Space Exploration, such as building more efficient astronaut gloves.-----Mission statement------ ---From 2002, NASA’s mission statement, used in budget and planning documents, read: “To understand and protect our home planet; to explore the universe and search for life; to inspire the next generation of explorers ... as only NASA can.” In early February 2006, the statement was altered, with the phrase “to understand and protect our home planet” deleted. Some outside observers believe the change is related to criticism of government policy on global warming by NASA scientists like James Hansen, but NASA officials have denied any such connection, pointing to new priorities for space exploration. The chair and ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs wrote NASA Administrator Griffin on July 31, 2006 expressing concerns about the change. NASA also canceled or delayed a number of earth science missions in 2006.-----Moon base----- ----On December 4, 2006, NASA announced they were planning to build a permanent moon base.[9] NASA Associate Administrator Scott Horowitz said the goal was to start building the moonbase by 2020, and by 2024, they expect to have continued presence at the base with crew rotations like the International Space Station. Additionally, NASA plans to collaborate and partner with other nations for this project.