spacetoday.net: Obama releases detailed space policy

Posted: Tue, Aug 19, 2008, 7:39 PM ET (2339 GMT)
Barack Obama in Florida, 8/2/08 (barackobama.com)

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama released a detailed space policy document on Sunday that officially endorses a return to the Moon. The six-page document states that the candidate supports one of the key milestones of the Vision for Space Exploration, the return of humans to the Moon by 2020. the policy also states that Obama would work to minimize the gap between the Shuttle and Constellation programs, and add one additional Shuttle flight to the current manifest to fly a scientific payload to the ISS. The policy also expresses support for further commercialization efforts within NASA, reform of space-related export control restrictions, and calls for a ban on weapons in space. Obama announced in a speech earlier this month that he supported the continued development of Constellation, repudiating a statement in an education white paper the campaign issued last November that called for a five-year delay in Constellation to help pay for education programs.