Another Bush story:

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Since last spring, the Bush administration has been conducting a confidential effort to establish a dramatic new goal for the nation's civil space program, perhaps rivaling President John F. Kennedy's call to place a U.S. astronaut on the moon before the end of the 1960s, sources told United Press International.

Only a few administration insiders have been involved, with Vice President Dick Cheney heading the effort, said sources, who requested anonymity.

Though some details have leaked out -- most notably reports Wednesday and Thursday that President George W. Bush will call for returning Americans to the moon -- sources insist no final decisions have been made. Instead, the president is reviewing a list of alternative goals -- some of them more practical than dramatic -- that must conform to a pair of overriding directives: Any option must be achievable within a reasonable period of time, and it must not require any major new federal spending.

Bush's decision and announcement, sources told UPI, could come as early as Dec. 17, when the president is scheduled to speak at Kitty Hawk, N.C., at a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first powered flight. The matter also could be deferred until January 2004 and included in his State of the Union address to Congress.

Let's go back to the moon for no other reason than to get the space program going again. Set a timetable for a manned voyage to Mars. It can't hurt to try.