I'm off to Maryland Tuesday for my first MS convention in several years. The main reasons I'm going are the capital hill blitz and to expose my son to both the space experts at the convention and the history and science exhibits in DC. I just got the talking points list by E-mail and it is posted below for comment. The only change I'd like to make to the wording is "the primary goal of the MANNED space program". I do not want to see all the other valuable space research at Jupiter, Saturn, and the planetoid belts neglected.

Regards,
Mark

Help us Support an Ambitious Space Exploration Program That Will Inspire the World

The United States Congress and President Barack Obama should support an
accelerated space exploration program, which establishes human exploration of
Mars as the primary goal of the U.S. space program.

1. Accelerate and refocus the current Constellation Program to establish human
exploration of Mars as the primary goal of the U.S. space program, with a mandate to
conduct the first human Mars landing by 2022.
• If we are to engage in human spaceflight, we need a scientific objective worthy of the
costs and risks. Mars uniquely provides such an objective.
• The challenges will inspire millions of our youth to development their minds to learn
science and engineering in order to be able to partake in such an epic adventure, while
mobilizing the most advanced capacities of American industry and academia to make
breakthroughs in every field.
• Consistent with this goal, every effort should be made to fly meaningful precursor
missions beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at the earliest possible date, with the first
asteroid and/or Moon mission conducted by 2016.

2. Accelerate development of spacecraft and launch vehicles to replace the Space Shuttle.
• A gap of five or more years between the retirement of the Space Shuttle and the new
Orion/Ares I system, during which time we will be dependent on Russia for access to the
International Space Station (ISS), is unacceptable, unwise and unnecessary.
• While some changes to the hardware components of the Constellation Program may be
necessary, the program must maintain a heavy lift launch vehicle that will allow us to
conduct robust missions to Mars and other destinations.

3. Fully Fund the Accelerated Program.
• Failure to fund NASA appropriately will not only extend the “gap” in which the United
States will have no capacity to send humans into space, but it will risk the success of the
mission as a whole.

4. Conduct a robust program of space science missions, including robotic missions to
further our understanding of Mars.

5. Utilize the COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services) program for
International Space Station re-supply after the retirement of the Space Shuttle. Expand
programs like COTS to larger roles in exploration if it demonstrates a cost savings in ISS
re-supply.