The Wailing Begins
So, NASA’s budget as revealed today is boosting basic research, “de-boosting” the Ares and Constellation programs, and putting the agency on a sensible path of sustained growth. How can this be a bad thing? Well, if you’re a proponent of “get people into space no matter what”, and “get NASA funding in my district whether it makes scientific sense or not”, it’s a golden opportunity to yell about how our future in space is lost, NASA is dead, Obama’s un-American, etc. etc. ad nauseum.
I’d like to invite you to do something that some commentators have NOT YET done: read the text of the NASA administrator’s remarks here to get the FULL story. Then you can see for yourself what all the shouting’s about.
Look, I’m all for getting humans into space, too. Hell, I want to go to space. I expected to be living on the Moon in my retirement. So, I want to see that. But, I also know that the way we were going about it — based on George Bush’s grandiose visions, was not the way to go. I’m sure that the NASA folk employed by the Ares and Constellation programs have done fine work with what they had to do, but those missions are not where we should be going.
NASA needs a commitment to sustained R&D, reasonable steps forward to the Moon and beyond, and to retain its leadership status as the place that inspires people to dream big,w hether it’s about going to Mars, having a career in math and science, or making a contribution to something bigger than themselves. As I said in my posting yesterday, this country has a HUGE crisis in math and science education, something that other countries like China and India are beating us about the head and shoulders with. NASA has always been a huge engine of growth, leveraging its puny part of the federal government budget (less than 1 percent!) into marvelous technological progress and leverage to get more math and science education into our schools.
So, let’s stop the hand-wringing and pissing and moaning about the loss of Ares and Constellation and look at the big picture. President Obama and NASA administrator Charles Bolden have done so. Instead of knee-jerk reactions, partisan pot-shots, and stupid headlines (“NASA Moon Mission Killed on Columbia Anniversary” (the tasteless hysterical and over-reacting headline from KBTX in College Station, TX — how could you??); pointless posturing commentary from Texas Republican Pete Olson (who, after all, has a narrow base to satisfy) who apparently can’t (or won’t) see the bigger picture, we need to look at this as a whole and see how it benefits ALL of American society — not just the parts of the country where there happen to be NASA bases.
You know, there might be a better way — and it’s possible that President Obama and his advisors HAVE actually looked into this carefully and are trying to get NASA and our science and technology establishment on a path to growth independent of pork barrel spending and campaign promises to narrow swatch of the voting public. NASA’s promise is for ALL Americans and I wish that pundits and politicians would see that.
I’ll leave you with a quote from Dr. Bolden’s commentary this morning:
We both agreed that as NASA moves forward into this still-young century,
we need a renewed commitment to invention and development, to the creative
and entrepreneurial spirit that is at the core of our country’s character and that
these things would be good for NASA, great for the American workforce, and
essential for our nation’s future prosperity.
I read the NASA administrator’s remarks and I like the idea that NASA will be re-focused on technological innovation rather than just the quick fix of piggybacking on existing technology to get back to the Moon. We need new forms of propulsion if we are to get beyond the limitations of existing rocket technology.
I didn’t like so much the emphasis toward the end that NASA spends a lot of effort inspiring public school kids to pursue STEM careers. NASA is too important to use as a public school resource. Let educators do education. Let NASA do space science.
But mostly the new direction lacks passion. We are likely to watch the Chinese land on the Moon while NASA is still immersed in an uninspiring R&D process. People need concrete goals whether it’s landing on the Moon in the decade of the 60’s or returning to the moon by 2020. The trick will be to keep both NASA personnel and the public inspired to continue without that kind of impetus. Perhaps by supporting commercial space exploration companies, we will get some of the space excitement that is needed to inspire the next generation.
I agree with many of your points, but I think that you are either NOT a teacher or don’t appreciate the impact that NASA has had on inspiring so many young people (myself included) into pursuing careers in math and science. Educational outreach is in its mandate. Not too many teachers have the time and/or background to do the amount of teaching by example that NASA can do very well. NASA supplies them with tools and materials to teach science. The best educational experiences can take place anywhere and from any inspiration — and I think your simple statement that the two should not mix is misguided. Think again.