Giving NASA a strong dose of stability and direction would help sustain United States leadership in spaceflight and exploration for decades to come, a new report advises.

NASA has been pulled in too many directions for too long, according to the report, which was released today (Dec. 4) by the nonprofit Space Foundation. The agency needs to set a unified, long-term vision and be able to work toward it no matter which way the winds of power are blowing in Washington, D.C.

"We think that if you've got your purpose clear, then it becomes easier for you to sit down and detail a 10-year plan and a 30-year plan that you stick to and revisit and revise as you make discoveries," said Space Foundation CEO Elliot Pulham.

A pioneering space agency

In many people's minds, today's NASA is a far cry from the world-beating agency that put a man on the moon in 1969, just 12 years after the Space Age dawned. [Lunar Legacy: 45 Apollo Moon Mission Photos]

Neil Armstrong's famous first steps on the lunar surface were made possible by a laserlike, agencywide focus that just doesn't exist at NASA today, according to the report.

"As the space program has evolved, we have witnessed frequent redirection and constantly shifting priorities at NASA, mixed signals from Congress and the administration, organizational conflicts and the lack of a singular purpose, resulting in a space agency without a clear, stable direction," the report states.

The report argues that NASA needs a unified purpose again. And it recommends what that purpose should be: pioneering. (The report's title is "Pioneering: Sustaining U.S. Leadership in Space.")

"This report does not advocate for space settlement or colonization; rather, it is focused on expanding the human sphere of influence," the authors write. "For example, much of the ocean floor is part of the human sphere of influence through the use of robotics, even if it is seldom visited by humans. One way or another, humans should seek to sustain a presence elsewhere in the solar system."

Pioneering has four phases, as laid out in the report: access (the ability to get to and from a destination); exploration; utilization; and transition (handing activities off when appropriate to other government agencies or to the private sector).

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NASA Needs Stronger Direction to Lead In Space: Report