Dean Calls for Humans to Mars
Nov. 6, 2003

During an online national town meeting conducted by the Washington
Post and Concord Monitor, Democratic presidental hopeful Howard Dean
today called for the United States to launch a humans to Mars program.

Dean's statement came in response to a question from a citizen from
Dallas. The transcript of the exchange reads as follows:

Dallas, Tex.: "If elected President, what are your plans for NASA and
the Space Program? Do you think it's time to retire the Shuttle and
move on to bigger and better things, such as a human mission to Mars,
or returning to the moon?"

Howard Dean: "I am a strong supporter of NASA and every government
program that furthers scientific research. I don't think we should
close the shuttle program but I do believe that we should
aggressively begin a program to have manned flights to Mars. This of
course assumes that we can change Presidents so we can have a
balanced budget again."

The Mars Society is a non-partisan organization and does not endorse
any candidates. We urge all candidatges and poltical parties to
support human Mars exploration. Currently, Mars Society members are
engaged in a nationwide mobilization to meet with hundreds of
Congressmen in their home districts to convince them that NASA needs
a goal for its human spaceflight program, and that goal should be
Mars. Mars Society members have also been seeking out the various
presidential candidates on the campaign trail and engaging them on
this issue. The fact that Dean, who is currently leading the
Democratic pack, should come out with such clear support for human
Mars exploration shows we are making real progress.

Dean supporters should contact their campaign offices and
congratulate their candidate for taking his visionary stand in
support of an American space program that really goes somewhere - and
to the right place at that!

Supporters of alternative candidates should contact their campaign
offices and urge them not to let Dean be the only candidate in the
race with a competant space policy. If they want to beat Dean, they
need to take an even stronger stand: Humans to Mars within a decade!

On to Mars!

From the MS