The main purpose of the proposal was to offer a much less expensive alternative to NASA's 90-day study from 1989 by a factor of US$30 billion.

The First Lunar Outpost (FLO) was the most comprehensive moonbase study under the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI).

The FLO concept incorporated many recommendations from the 1991 Stafford Synthesis report, mainly the use of a Nova class super heavy launch vehicle to minimize assembly and operations in low Earth orbit and on the surface of the Moon.

The program would have almost completely consisted of existing technology such as the Saturn and Space Station with only the landing vehicle needing to be developed.

[2] Based on the recommendations of the Stafford Synthesis report, FLO would have relied on a massive Saturn-derived launch vehicle known as the Comet.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center looked into the Comet rocket or a possible configuration of the then-in-development National Launch System with four F-1A boosters added to the basic 2-stage NLS vehicle.

It would use two 222.5 KN-thrust engines and would have reduced the size and weight of both the lunar injection stage and the rest of the launch vehicle.

Both Boeing's SEI contractor studies and the Stafford Synthesis report recommended that NASA invest in nuclear propulsion technology.

NASA's Lewis Research Center established a Nuclear Systems Office to develop and test a fully functional engine by 2005.

This along with the military's Timberwind project revived the U.S. nuclear propulsion program for the first time since NERVA's cancellation in the 1970s.

Later missions would bring in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) equipment to test it on the lunar surface before sending the technology to Mars.

It would not need any additional setup after landing and would be able to self-deploy its 20 KW solar array and perform its own system check.

Each traverse would drive out to a maximum range of 25 km and they would visit major geographical features and gathering data about the area.

The mission would require newer updated EVA suits that were more comfortable, had better mobility, and were easier to manage.

The existing Shuttle EVA Suits required much maintenance and astronauts needed to pre-breathe oxygen in order to avoid the bends as a result of nitrogen bubbling in the bloodstream.

Once the surface mission is complete, the vehicle would separate two large spherical drop tanks and ascend directly to Earth, once again skipping low lunar orbit.

In order to achieve the payload capacity required for this mission, the Ariane 5 would need an additional two solid rocket boosters (SRBs) and the Space Shuttle would need the lightweight Al-Li External Tank or Advanced Solid Rocket Motors (ASRMs) to carry 25,720-kg payloads to a 300-km orbit.

The next day, President Clinton stated on a campaigning trip through the American Pacific Northwest that a human mission to Mars was too expensive and instead affirmed America's commitment to a series of less expensive probes, thus removing human exploration from the national agenda.