Imagine taking a day trip to the moon or staying overnight in a space hotel. The idea is not just science fiction -- a NASA official believes both will be possible in the not-too-distant future.

"In your guys' lifetime, you will see hotels in space," said Dan Dumbacher, a deputy program manager at NASA.

In 1969, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. In 1981, the space shuttle Columbia took its first flight. But has the United States lost interest in space travel?

"The country decided back in the '60s to go to the moon basically because we wanted to beat the Russians there. Now there are lots of us that would like to go to Mars. In fact, if you went out to my car right now, you'd see a license plate on it that says, 'On to Mars,' " said Dumbacher, an Indianapolis native and graduate of Bishop Chatard High School and Purdue University.

But a trip to Mars will be very expensive, "so we're trying to make a rocket space transportation system as cheap as we can and as safe as we can, so that when it is time to go to Mars, it doesn't cost so much to do it."

Dumbacher is working on NASA's space launch initiative -- "a program to get the country ready to replace the shuttle eventually," he explained.

The program employs about 1,000 people at NASA and 2,000 industry contractors across the country. Its 2002 budget was $460 million; its 2003 budget is $750 million. Its total budget is $4.8 billion through fiscal year 2006.

The project will have a direct impact on the prospects of space tourism. "People want to start putting hotels up in space. They want to be able to use space to make new materials and new medicines. And to do that, you have to get stuff from the ground up to space," he said.

"Right now, it takes about 10,000 people across the country to fly a shuttle mission. What we are trying to do is build the next launch system so that it doesn't take as many people, so you can operate it more efficiently and be able to fly more often to space. Right now, we're only able to fly the shuttle up to space eight times a year. What we want to be able to do is get launch systems such that we can fly once a week to space, or every other week."

Dumbacher said the annual budget of the shuttle alone is $3.5 billion and noted that for every pound of material sent into space, the cost is $10,000.

"What we're trying to do is to make it so that it's just $1,000 per pound to get payload to orbit," he said. "It's within our reach."

The space launch initiative is investigating various ways to curb costs. One is having a rocket with only two stages. Another is finding a more efficient fuel.

Right now, the project is working with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, but Dumbacher believes nuclear propulsion holds the most promise.

"That's what's needed to do long-range exploration in space. If we know how to do nuclear propulsion, we can make the trip to Mars and back quicker," he said.

The initiative also is looking at new materials to make the rockets themselves. Although they haven't settled on a system or design yet, they're close.

"A year ago, we were looking at 100 different concepts, 100 different ideas. Over the past year, we narrowed it down to about 15, and in the next year we're gonna narrow it down to about three different concepts," he said.

But money is always a limitation. That's why Dumbacher believes NASA will colonize the moon before it puts a man on Mars.

"Congress has to be willing to spend the money. Your parents have to be willing to have their tax money spent that way. When you guys grow up, you're going to have to be willing to have your tax money spent that way," he said.

"I tend to believe that we're probably going to go to the moon first because it's closer. It's easier to figure out how to work in that environment and still be close enough to Earth so that if we have an emergency, we can get home. And it gives us a good place to learn before we go on to Mars."

He compared it to how the United States was settled: "We explored this country by starting over on the East Coast in Boston and Philadelphia and New York. Then we moved a little bit west and took our steps one step at a time."

And he believes we'll eventually get to Mars.

"It won't be anytime soon. It probably will be in your lifetime, though."

Mars poses unique challenges. For example, with today's technologies, it would take six to nine months to get there, which could create problems for the crew.

"When you put a group of people into a small space like that, they'd better like each other a lot. They'd better learn how to work with each other. They'd better be able to handle lots of problems that come up along the way and be able to fix things," he said.

More efficient propulsion will allow rockets to go farther faster.

"That's what we're trying to do is to build up that highway to space," he said. "It's time to explore space and start to use space to make our lives better here on Earth."

Dumbacher believes space will be the source of new industry and jobs.

"It'll open up new markets, and it will then also allow us to go and start doing the next wave of exploration out to Mars and to other planets, if that's what the country decides to do," he said.

Until it can send people to Mars, NASA will send robots. The next one will be launched in June, Dumbacher said.

And once Mars is colonized, Dumbacher believes humans eventually will evolve to fit their new environment.

"Evolution means that you kind of learn to adapt to your environment, and no one can predict what's going to happen. But I do think that human beings learn. That's our nature. We will always learn and ask questions and learn from those questions as we try to find the answers."

REPORTERS: Daniel Kent, 14; Stephanie Ray, 12.

"That's what we're trying to do is to build up that highway to space. It's time to explore space and start to use space to make our lives better here on Earth."

Dan Dumbacher, a deputy program manager at NASA