NASA HISTORY: President Richard Nixon Outlines The Future of United States Space Program In 1970

By  //  March 7, 2017

March 7, 1970

On this day, March 7, on 1970, President Richard Nixon issued a “Statement About the Future of the United States Space Program.” (NASA Image)

(NASA) – On this day, March 7, on 1970, President Richard Nixon issued a “Statement About the Future of the United States Space Program.”

The announcement came about a month before the launch of Apollo 13.

The “successful failure” of Apollo 13 would have a significant impact on President Nixon’s opinions about human spaceflight.

READ NIXON’S FULL STATEMENT

Nonetheless, in early March 1970 he outlined six ambitious objectives for U.S. human spaceflight in the coming years – they were:

1. “We should continue to explore the moon.”

2. “We should move ahead with bold exploration of the planets and the universe…As a part of this program we will eventually send men to explore the planet Mars.”

3. “We should work to reduce substantially the cost of space operations…we must devise less costly and less complicated ways of transporting payloads into space.”

4. “We should seek to extend man’s capability to live and work in space… We expect that men will be working in space for months at a time during the coming decade.”

5. “We should hasten and expand the practical applications of space technology… We should continue to pursue other applications of space-related technology in a wide variety of fields, including meteorology, communications, navigation…”

6. “We should encourage greater international cooperation in space.”