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WASHINGTON D.C. - At a recent visit to the NASA facilities
in Cape Canaveral, Florida, President Bush expressed hope
U.S. astronauts would be able to land a man safely on the
sun within 10 years.
“One of our earlier Presidents set the goal of landing
a man on the moon and that certainly sounded remarkable at
the time. I see no reason why we couldn’t eventually
get a man to walk on the sun without injury," Bush said.
John F. Kennedy was just one year in his office when he challenged
NASA to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. In
the summer of 1969, Neil Armstrong made that journey, setting
the stage for future space exploration and dozens of botched
missions costing American taxpayers billions of dollars.
President Bush urged NASA engineers and geologists to begin
mapping the sun’s surface for signs of oil, telling them
what an incredible source of energy the sun could be and how
America could lead the rest of the world in harnessing this
great power. "There's oil in them hills," Bush joked
to some polite laughter.
The President argued the journey should also include important
research that might shed light on why the sun becomes hotter
during the summertime and why it continually circles our planet.
"The only way to unlock the sun's mysteries is to have
our astronauts do a lunar landing on its surface," said
Bush. "Then, they can collect all of the astrological
information we need. With this information we might one day
find a way to cool off the sun and put an end to global warming."
The President hopes that NASA will be able to successfully
complete the mission during his administration, but acknowledges
he is also setting the stage for future Presidents in case
they can't build "a super fire-proof spacesuit"
by the end of his term.
"I envision a day, where we will no longer risk blindness
by staring into the sun," Bush said. "Where, during
a particularly hot summer, we might be able to turn a knob
like on the thermostat which would draw a gigantic shade and
give us all temporary relief. I realize this sounds like science
fiction, but that’s what we said when we first started
watching Star Trek."
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