President Bush is expected to announce U.S. plans to fly a manned mission to the moon in 2013, likely to create a permanent base there, and to send astronauts on a flyby of Mars around 2020.
Sources say the budgeting of these projects would be aided by the retirement of the Space Shuttles once the International Space Station is finished and an influx of $800 million into the NASA budget.
The workhorse vehicle of NASA would become the segmented "Crew Exploration Vehicle" which could be assembled into different configurations to suit different missions.
Bush's plans are expected to strongly echo those of his father in 1992.
