Background
In August 1987 a committee chaired by former astronaut Dr. Sally Ride released a report entitled Leadership and America’s Future in Space. The "Ride Report" advocated establishment of a permanent moon base by 2010 and landing a crew on Mars early in the 21st century.
On January 5, 1988 President Ronald Reagan approved a revised United States national space policy, which was classified. On February 11 a summary "Fact Sheet" about the policy was publicly released. The policy identified six goals of United States space activities, the last of which was, "to expand human presence and activity beyond Earth orbit into the solar system."
In the view of NASA, the July 20, 1989 speech by President Bush, "provided specificity" to that policy goal. Following this announcement NASA Administrator Richard Truly initiated a study of the options to achieve the President’s goals, headed by Johnson Space Center Director Aaron Cohen. A report on that study, called, "the 90-Day Study on Human Exploration of the Moon and Mars" (or simply, "the 90-Day Study"), was published by NASA on November 20, 1989.
Read more about this topic: Space Exploration Initiative
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