NASA's future plans for lunar astronomy and astrophysics

Based on the recommendations of The Decade of Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics — a report from the National Research Council’s Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee (chaired by John Bahcall) — NASA’s Astrophysics Division crafted a strategic plan consisting of missions and other programme elements to begin development within the next ten years. NASA’s challenge in developing this ten-year plan was to implement the Bahcall report recommendations within the very constrained fiscal climate. The resulting strategic plan was approved by the science community and presented to the Space Science and Applications Advisory Committee (SSAAC), NASA’s highest level science advisory group, at a week long strategic planning retreat. SSAAC combined the Astrophysics plan with the needs of the rest of the space science community and recommended a single, fiscally responsible plan for NASA space science missions from 1994 through 1998.