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Back in 1989 the Bush administration announced a new direction for NASA called the Space Exploration Initiative with a mission to Mars as it's cornerstone project. Along with this SEI was a price tag of $489 Billion and it was dead before it hit the launching pad.

In 2005 Bush Jr. was much smarter. He called for building a new vehicle (Crew Exploration Vehicle), retire the 20 year old shuttle program, maintain the International Space Station, return to the Moon in 2020, and go to Mars. This time the cost would never be disclosed, instead money would be shuffled from Shuttle to the CEV, from Station to CEV, from science to CEV, etc etc.