But turning rhetoric into reality will require drawing upon the talents of civil and military abilities, as well as industrial prowess, policy and space technologists participating in the 20^th annual meeting of the National Space Symposium said Tuesday.

Participating in the panel, "The New NASA Vision How We Got Here. What It Means", Bretton Alexander, Senior Policy Analyst at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, outlined President Bushs January 14^th marching orders for NASA.

Alexander said the tragic loss of the shuttle Columbia early last year created a crisis in the civilian space sector, compounded by the lack of a compelling vision for the nations human space flight program. There has been a 30-year national debate as to the nations space goals, he said, which President Bush has ended by setting the country on a bold course for the 21^st century.

James Kennedy, Director of NASAs John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida urged that the Bush plan for space must be more than a partisan, one-President commitment.

"I personally think its time, after Congress has spoken on this subjectitll be time for this to be no longer the Presidents vision. This should be de-politicized. It should be our national vision of space exploration," Kennedy said. "I hope that we adopt that as our own personal vision."

NASAs Craig Steidle, newly appointed as Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems, said the highest risk factor to implementing the Bush vision, at this particular point, is making the effort sustainable.

"If we all work together" a long-range and long-term robotic and human space exploration agenda can be both sustainable and affordable, Steidle said.

"You have to take this step by step, define it early, make sure you get the right technologies and make sure they are integrated," Steidle advised.

A space partnership between military and NASA is important in moving forward on the Bush plan, said Air Force Major General Paul Nielsen, Commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory.

There are a host of technologies -- particularly in power, propulsion, and new materials -- that can be fostered by NASA-Air Force working together that are beneficial to both entities, Nielsen said.

Nielsen said he hoped that NASA did not abandon work on space launch technologies. That work can hasten the day of less expensive and more routine access to space, he said.

Pressed on whether scrapping plans to fly the space shuttle again might not provide the money to fuel the Moon, Mars and beyond space endeavor, panelists said such an idea is not tenable. For one, commitments to finishing the International Space Station could not be met.

"Theres no talk about not flying the shuttle again," NASAs Kennedy said. "We believe we can be ready to fly in March" of next year he added.