ORLANDO, Fla., Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama says he wants the United States to lead the international space endeavor by sending astronauts back to the moon.
The Illinois senator outlined his space policy Saturday, the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel reported Sunday.
"Human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit should be a long-term goal and investment for all space-faring countries, with America in the lead," Obama's seven-page policy paper said.
In addition to calling for a second U.S. trip to the moon by 2020 as a precursor to a journey to Mars, Obama said he would guarantee funding for additional space flights after the space shuttle's planned retirement in 2010 and to "expedite" development of a successor.
"Human spaceflight is important to America's political, economic, technological, and scientific leadership," the paper said. "Barack Obama ... endorses the goal of sending human missions to the Moon by 2020, as a precursor in an orderly progression to missions to more distant destinations, including Mars."
The newspaper reported the plan did not spell out the future of NASA's Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral, Fla., which faces the loss of as many as 6,500 jobs when the shuttle is retired.
