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| Celestial Reasonings |
| 01.14.04 (9:41 am) |
This afternoon, President Bush will call on Congress to increase NASA's funding by 1 billion dollars per year over the next five years. This budget increase is part of the President's vision of sending humans back to the moon and then to Mars sometime in the first quarter of this century. There are many critics of this decision, but I agree with the President and with NASA administrator Sean Keefe: we must explore our solar system. Humanity’s deeply ingrained spirit of exploration will accept nothing less.
The reasons and proposed methods for returning to space are sound. First, the United States will fulfill its obligation to the International Space Station. NASA plans to phase out the aging and dangerous Space Shuttle fleet by 2010 and construct a new spacecraft designed to carry a small crew instead of cargo. The shuttle is the reason that NASA seems to have lost so much of its focus, and the public so much of its interest in the space program. Quite literally, we are no longer ascending to new heights. In the long term, there is very little to be gained by shuttling international astronauts to and from the ISS, other than to allow each participating nation to have its day in space. The establishment of a permanent human presence in space has been a worthy mission, but its inspiration has long expired. We are no longer pushing the envelope of science and development, but pursuing a perilous and hackneyed exercise in budgetary excess. A new, up-to-date spacecraft is needed before meaningful progress can be made.
After the Columbia disaster in 2003, the entire future of the space program seemed in doubt, until the Spirit rover sent us postcards from Mars that took our collective breath away. I must confess, after seeing those images of the Martian terrain I wanted to step through the camera. I wanted to feel the red, rocky soil crunching underneath my boots, gaze into the pink Martian sky, and listen to the awesome sound of utter, complete silence all around me. I wanted to be the first person to walk on Mars, to feel like Neil Armstrong must have felt. I bet the first fish that crawled out of the sea onto the land must have felt the same way.
I am sure that there are millions of people who feel the same way I do, yet the new space initiatives are being attacked by the usual critics with the usual asinine, temporal concerns. Some charge that we should not undertake these missions while our troops are in Iraq. These people seem to forget that we managed to land on the moon six times while a much larger war was being waged in Vietnam. Some argue that this program will simply cost too much money. I disagree. On the way to Mars, we will inevitably accomplish scientific, technological, and medical advances that will have untold corollary benefits to average human beings living right here on Earth. The more we learn about how our universe works, the more we'll learn about how life on our planet works, and we'll all be better off. It's inescapable; we are all part of the vastness of the cosmos, and it is a part of us.
These critics ignore our history, and ignore our destiny. Life evolved on this planet because living beings left their places of origin and adapted to new areas and climates. Our ancestors crawled out of the seas, across the land, across the seas, into the skies, and into the cosmos. We will now bring life to the moon, and to Mars; it is inevitable. If we do not go today, we will go tomorrow. The human spirit will refuse to remain confined to our small planet, and I believe that we will soon live up to our destiny.
The President's announcement today may be nothing more than a feel-good election year platitude. After all, his goals lie safely outside the boundaries of his would-be second term in 2008. However, I applaud George Bush for resurrecting America's space dream at a time when it was needed most. Finally, here is a national goal that does not involve war, terrorism, and corporate crackdowns. I can only hope that our nation's policy makers will take the necessary steps to bring these dreams to fruition, and that we will have the good sense to get Europe, India, China, and Russia in on the act. George Bush is right: it is time to return to the moon, and to see Mars for ourselves. Destiny is calling; what are we waiting for?
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posted by: newbie
post date: 01.15.04 (10:55 am)
What about a goal that helps us here and now? While I applaud the ambition, what does going to Mars fulfill? Does it put food on the table of low-income families? Does it provide health care for all? Now, I realize that $1 billion dollars is not enough to fix any of those problems, but it seems that there are better ways to spend our tax dollars than exploring the moon (is there anything left to discover there?) or trying to get to Mars.
posted by: bkriner
post date: 01.15.04 (11:43 am)
Thanks for your comments. You make a valid point, and I'm sure that many people out there agree with you. Among them is WP columnist Anne Applebaum, who makes a similar argument in her article "Mission to Nowhere": http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60593-2004Jan6.html
I wanted to make 2 points in my article. First, to applaud the President for not allowing the space program to continue petering out into irrelevance. Second, to point out that, given human history, we WILL go to Mars, sooner or later, and I feel that there is much yet to be discovered there (ditto the moon).
Think about human history: every time some frontier seems illogical or impossible, we conquer it. Columbus's voyage, the Wright Brothers' flight, Hilary on Everest, Amundsen at the South Pole, Armstrong on the moon, etc. etc. We'll conquer Mars, and beyond, too.
As far as how we spend our tax dollars, I'd point out that I'd rather have them spent on a unifying goal like the Space Program than have them spent on bombing the bojangles out of the Middle East. The universe is infinite and eternal. Our silly wars here on Earth are temporal and insignificant in comparison. Let's embrace destiny...
posted by: newbie
post date: 01.22.04 (2:29 pm)
It is very important to go back to the moon and to Mars. As you may be aware, NASA programs have had many spin off technologies that have greatly benefited society such as Teflon, plastics, and Tang.
While I agree that there are many problems that need to be addressed and much money is needed, I would argue that space exploration has many trickle down benefits for society
posted by: bkriner
post date: 01.27.04 (8:32 pm)
Reply to: Iron
I love the benefit of Tang trickling down my throat...
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