SPACE POLITICS
My father likes to remind me of the moment on July 20,1969 when Americans first landed on the Moon. One of our neighbors in Princeton was the genius behind the lunar orbit concept. I was nine or ten at the time, but I remember Dad complaining that the next morning the news of this extraordinary event took a back seat to the breaking story of Ted Kennedy, Mary Jo Kopechne, and the drowning on Chappaquiddick. As he says, “From the heights of human courage to the gutless baseness of man in a matter of hours.”
My good friend Ralph thinks the same priorities continue today on media news. I played some tennis with him yesterday, and the thoughts he passed on, after beating me, merit some exposure. Here’s a rough synopsis of what Ralph had to say.
“At a time when America’s past is being demonized around the world, and by our own newly commissioned White House, I experienced a moment of honest pride catching the Space Shuttle Atlantis coming in for landing this morning at Cape Canaveral. I hadn’t seen one of these rocks-falling-out-of-the-sky landings in a long time, and I’d forgotten how impressive the whole process really is. It was a good feeling being proud of what America has accomplished in the space continuum.
“The Shuttle program, conceived and operated by NASA, was a bold and risk-filled enterprise backed by Presidential administrations through Clinton, and enough of the Congressional men and women in power through the 1990’s to provide the necessary funds. The Space program, including the Shuttle, while expensive by any standards, also has taken the lives of some those who were willing to risk everything to show what America can do when it has good leadership. They, as well as all those involved in this enterprise, deserve the Nation’s respect and deep gratitude.
“The Shuttle is being retired now, and will not be replaced by America. There are five more missions planned to the International Space Station. The Station, pioneered by America and maintained by a group of Western nations and Russia, will no longer have the American Shuttle to provide large amounts of equipment and supplies to the multi-national crews up there. The Russian rockets will transport crew as they have done for some time now. And Japanese and European rockets will supplement equipment needs in small doses. The workhorse Shuttle will no longer be available.
“NASA has even more ambitious plans for space. More moon landings and possible deeper penetrations by men into space. These dreams also need funding, and the price tag is high. Our current occupants of the White House and the controlling politicians in Congress are unlikely to place these plans very high on their list of current borrowing needs. This may or may not be good leadership, but whatever the future of NASA, we cannot forget their impressive accomplishments over the last 45 years.”
