Bush plans for missions to moon, Mars

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- President Bush will announce plans next week to send Americans to Mars and back to the moon and to establish a long-term human presence on the moon, senior administration officials said Thursday night.

Bush doesn't plan to send Americans to Mars anytime soon; rather, he envisions preparing for the mission more than a decade from now, one official said.

The president also wants to build a permanent space station on the moon.

The initiatives are part of a broad, new commitment to manned space flight, three officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

They said Bush wants to aggressively reinvigorate the space program, which has been demoralized by a series of setbacks, including the space shuttle disaster last February that killed seven astronauts.

The officials said Bush's announcement would come in the middle of next week.

Bush has been expected to announce a major space initiative, and some thought he would do so at the 100th-anniversary celebration of the Wright brother's first flight last month in North Carolina.

Instead, he only pledged the United States would continue to lead the world in aviation.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, has called for an expansion of the U.S. space program, including a return to the moon.