What, Constellation dead? In case you are wondering what I am talking about, I am talking about NASA’s return to the moon space flight program, Constallation http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main/. It is slated for cancelation in President Obama’s proposed 2011 budget. But really, why should be sare?
Should we care about prosthetic limbs that have drastically improved peoples lives after they have lost a leg or arm due to injury or birth defect? Should we care about modern computer systems that allow us to search for anything of interest, or read this blog? The internet and World Wide Web has allowed us to connect with each other in a fashion we had not dream of even twenty years ago. Should I care that
I looked up NASA technology spin offs and found there site dedicated to maintaining a database of just that http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/Spinoff2008/index.html. This is an excert from there 2008 Spinoff document:
“While NASA does not manufacture, market or sell commercial products, many commercial products are derived from NASA technology. Many NASA-originated technologies are adapted by private industry for use by consumers like you.”
Are we ready to see the death of the dream spoken of by President Kennedy? President Obama had used ideals to promote a return to space on his campaign trail, but a lot of people feel betrayed that he has signaled for the end of the in progress project, Constellation. A lot of people thought his words on the campaign trail were his promise to follow through with President Bush’s statement to return to the moon by 2020. Is this a sign of the end for our space program? Will we now fall behind in the space race? A lot of Americans are concerned that without a space program we will be celebrating a Russian or European Space Agency conquest of space. Of course I find this curiously ironic as most of America is full of European decedents, but that is another rant.
I mentioned the end of the Constellation to another friend of mine who is a strong proponent to a return to space. In fact he has been active in many project over the years, form the Millennial Project by Marshall Savage, to its current child, the Living Universe Foundation. Well, okay Mr. Doe has credentials and I trust his judgment, but guess what he said? No, go ahead and guess, I’ll wait.
Insert dramatic pause here
Oh, okay, I will tell you… He words, “Ares-1/V and Constellation (the current bloated and underperforming piece of crap it is) needs to die.” Whoa. Hold on, as stunning as his words were, I can see a truth behind them. Is he right? Is the project bloated and under performing? There is always that possibility. That is the danger of running a government agency with all the bureaucracy that that implies. After all what is an elephant, but a mouse built to committee specifications.
As you can see my view has undergone a change over the course of the last two days since I heard that the project was having its life’s blood cut off. What is the truth of the matter? There are always more than one side to any discussion.