Former Astronaut Says Space Goals Need Revision in New Book

NEW YORK and WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- With the 20th
anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster approaching
(January 28), a former shuttle astronaut is saying that NASA needs to
rethink its goals in space as set forth by President Bush. "His
decision to send Americans beyond low Earth orbit was a long-needed
statement of our nation's belief in the benefits of exploration and
discovery," says four-time space shuttle veteran Tom Jones. "But the
new vision leaves out some important details and misses other
opportunities for sustaining and strengthening our exploration
program."

Jones makes the statements in a forthcoming book, SKY WALKING: An
Astronaut's Memoir, due out next month. Jones spent eleven years as an
astronaut, completed four missions aboard the space shuttle (including
one aboard the ill-fated Columbia, which exploded three years ago on
February 1) and helped to construct the International Space Station.

With another shuttle launch scheduled for later this year, Jones is
ready to discuss his thoughts about what the future of the space
program should be. Perhaps surprisingly for a former shuttle
astronaut, his first suggestion is to move quickly to retire the
shuttle in favor of a new spacecraft, the Crew Exploration Vehicle
(CEV), currently in development. Other ideas he proposes in SKY
WALKING include:

-- Using the shuttle's massive external tank and reliable boosters to

develop a heavy-lift cargo ship, which could be used to complete the

International Space Station and to lift the heavier spacecraft

required for voyages beyond low Earth orbit (and possibly open up

opportunities for tourism and industrial activity, such as orbital

hotels and lunar and asteroid refineries).

-- Populating the International Space Station before its scheduled

completion in 2010.

-- Rethinking President Bush's goal of returning astronauts to the moon.

-- Jones favors targeting near-Earth asteroids or even the Martian moons

instead. "Only if the moon hosts significant natural resources, such as

recoverable water ice at its poles, should we make a major investment

in sending people to live and work there for the long term."

In his book he also discusses the meticulous testing and screening,
and the grueling training, that go into making an astronaut; his
experiences in space, which he describes as "incredible adventures,
replete with exhilaration, anxiety, satisfaction, disappointment,
amazement, and danger;" the personal side of being an astronaut,
including the toll his career took on his wife and family; and even
the spiritual aspects of spaceflight. SOURCE Collins Publishing