Our Future in Space

Depends on Growing NASA Anew

Space shuttle Endeavor as seen from the International Space Station. Courtesy NASA.

This image of the space shuttle is one of the most evocative and beautiful I’ve ever seen taken on orbit. It says volumes about our ability to regularly visit space and establish a threshold beyond the confines of our home planet.

What does this image say to you?  If you are one of the people who is concerned that the new direction NASA is headed is one that will bring an end to our exploration of space, this image may have an entirely different meaning than to someone who sees it as the end of an old era and the beginning of a new one. Regardless of your viewpoint, it’s a gorgeous and thought-provoking view of our presence in space.

For what it’s worth, I think that NASA needs to be redirected and guided into a more sustainable and less “grab some rocks and bring ’em home” kind of manned spaceflight future.  It’s been an ongoing struggle to define a human presence in space, especially given the challenges such a presence puts in our faces.  Robotic missions, such as the Mars landers, the orbiters, the Voyager and Cassini and Galileo and MESSENGER and Magellan planetary probes are relative “easy” to do, compared to putting humans in space.  NASA has had incredibly wonderful experiences with the robotic missions, and the images we get from HST, Spitzer, COBE, and so many other missions have revealed the wonders of the universe to us.  We will continue to do these missions and explorations — they are returning wonderful science to us every day.  The human missions and crewed explorations of the Moon and Mars and beyond?  I say, let NASA get its new sustainable future goals in place, and let these people do their jobs.  If politicians can keep their whining to a minimum (particularly those who are pandering to voters before thinking through the implications of what a sustainable NASA future can be), we might have a chance of getting a better and more robust crewed space program for our future.  If you’re a voter with a whining politician, let ’em know that they should become better informed before shooting off at the mouth.  Urge them to support NASA’s future — even if it does mean a few short-term cuts and re-arrangements. And, while you’re at it, urge your congresscritter or senator to push for better science and technology education funding.  If they don’t, they are relegating U.S. kids to second-class citizenship when it comes to science education and technology development.

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