Bolden: Flexible Path is an Attractive Approach to Space Exploration

Doug Messier human spaceflight, NASA 1 Comment
Altair on the moon
Altair on the moon. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said he favors a flexible approach in which the moon is the not the only target for exploration.

Bolden: Flexible Path Approach is “Attractive to Everybody”
Space News

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden says sending astronauts to various solar system destinations instead of focusing exclusively on the Moon is an “attractive” option that could allow the U.S. space agency to phase in promising new technologies while inspiring the American public at regular intervals along the way.

“You utilize lunar exploration, utilize visits to asteroids, whether it’s robotic or human,” Bolden told Space News Nov. 5, referring to the so-called Flexible Path option detailed in an October report by the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee, which the White House chartered in May to reassess NASA’s manned exploration goals.

“That’s what makes it attractive to everybody,” he said. “That’s the one good thing about it. It is not a lunar program, and it’s not a Mars program. It allows you to go to different destinations as you see the capabilities arise.”

Bolden’s comments come as he and other senior administration officials consider the findings of the committee, which was led by former Lockheed Martin chief Norm Augustine.

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