Washington: Seeking to revitalise the United States' (US) space programme, President George W Bush has set the target of Americans' return to the moon as early as 2015 and emphasised the country's commitment to manned space flight.

In his election-year 'back-to-the-moon' speech at NASA headquarters in Washington, Bush said yesterday (Jan 14, 2004) that he wanted the US to return to the moon as early as 2015 and no later than 2020 and use the lunar surface as a stepping-stone for more ambitious manned and robotic missions.

Outlining his "new plan to explore space and extend human presence across the solar system", Bush said, "We will build new ships to carry man forward into the universe, to gain a new foothold on the moon, and to prepare for new journeys to worlds beyond our own."

He said the US investment in space exploration had immensely advanced the human knowledge, bringing tangible benefits to the people in terms of improved weather forecasting, communications, computing, search and rescue technology, robotics and electronics. "Our investment in space exploration helped to create our satellite telecommunications network and the Global Positioning System. Medical technologies that help prolong life such as the imaging processing used in CAT scanners and MRI machines trace their origins to technology engineered for the use in space."

Yet for all those successes, he said, much needs to be done.

"In the past 30 years, no human being has set foot on another world or ventured farther upward into space than 386 miles. America has not developed a new vehicle to advance human exploration in space in nearly a quarter century," Bush said.

"It is time for America to take the next steps," he added.

He said the US first goal was to complete the International Space Station by 2010. The US would retire its ageing space shuttle fleet at about the same time, replacing that with a new "crew exploration vehicle" (the second goal) that could carry humans to moon and beyond.

The new vehicle would be tested by 2008 and conduct its first manned mission no later than 2014.

"Our third goal is to return to the moon by 2020 as the launching point for missions beyond.

"Beginning no later than 2008, we will send a series of robotic missions to the lunar surface to research and prepare for future human exploration. Using the Crew Exploration Vehicle, we will undertake extended human missions to the moon as early as 2015 with the goal of living and working there for increasingly extended periods," Bush said.

He said, "The US would like to make moon a base for cheap assembling and provisioning of spacecraft. The moon's low gravity means that such things could be done using far less energy, and thus, for less money."