Here is Bush's promise: https://web.archive.org/web/20040116071139/https://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/01/20040114-1.html https://web.archive.org/web

Here is Bush's promise: https://web.archive.org/web/20040116071139/https://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/01/20040114-1.html https://web.archive.org/web/20040116071139/https://www.white... Third, America will return to the Moon as early as 2015 and no later than 2020 and use it as a stepping stone for more ambitious missions. A series of robotic missions to the Moon, similar to the Spirit Rover that is sending remarkable images back to Earth from Mars, will explore the lunar surface beginning no later than 2008 to research and prepare for future human exploration. Using the Crew Exploration Vehicle, humans will conduct extended lunar missions as early as 2015, with the goal of living and working there for increasingly extended periods. - Third bullet under President Bush's Vision for U.S. Space Exploration