Bill introduced directing NASA to establish a moon base

Throughout the Bush administration, NASA had been given the goal of preparing for long-duration missions in space, first to the Moon and then eventually Mars. Upon reaching office, the Obama administration performed a detailed analysis of NASA's priorities and budget, which revealed some ugly truths: NASA didn't have the money to build the systems needed to accomplish any of this, and even if it were to get a budget infusion, the schedule was unworkable. The report recommended we give up on Mars, skip the Moon, and focus on developing the technology to enable long-duration space travel.

The cancellations that accompanied this change of direction have not gone over well with either space enthusiasts or those who represent the districts in which some of the hardware would be built. But the plan does have a significant risk, in that NASA would be ordered to do technology development without having a clear goal that it would use that technology to reach. A group of US House members now aims to rectify that by, in part, reversing a portion of Obama's directive: they want NASA to build a permanent Moon base.

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