Days after saying in his State of the Union speech that he does not quit, President Obama has proposed a budget that will end the U.S. manned space exploration program. The ambitious vision for space exploration proposed by President Bush (commonly called the “Moon, Mars & Beyond” program and officially called the Constellation Program), would have seen U.S. astronauts return to the Moon and establish a permanent base camp as a testbed for going on to explore Mars, has been canceled. Instead, Obama has offered NASA more funding meant to inspire private contractors to build a commercial space industry. As this report in the New York Times explains:
In place of the Moon mission, Mr. Obama’s vision offers, at least initially, nothing in terms of human exploration of the solar system. What the administration calls a “bold new initiative” does not spell out a next destination or timetable for getting there. In the meantime, instead of using the Constellation’s Ares I rocket and Orion crew capsule to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station, $6 billion would instead go to financing space taxi services from commercial companies.
I’m saddened to think that the once great U.S. space program that inspired the world with the lunar landings is now reduced to hitching a ride to orbit from commercial companies who have yet to build the hardware. Given that NASA has already spent over $10 billion on the lunar program, including new rockets, this represents a giant leap backwards. Unless Congress acts to reverse this decision, the next person to stand on the Moon, or the first person to stand on Mars, will almost certainly not be an American. Why? Because this proposed budget will gut both the technological and human infrastructure of NASA at a time when other countries have announced their own ambitious space programs. And yes, we are talking jobs, very highly skilled and specialized jobs that will be lost and once gone, they are gone forever. A space capability built over decades will simply no longer exist. If we change our minds in 2025 and say, “hey, let’s start up the manned space program again,” it will be enormously expensive to do and it will take a lot of time to build up the pool of skilled personnel to do the job. It really is, as they say, rocket science. The U.S. has long prided itself on being a space-faring country, a world leader in science and technology, and so a moment of decision is nearing for the U.S. to decide, are we still that country?
Image Credit: NASA
