The Politics of NASA

Let it be known that I have very mixed feelings on NASA. As with any government agency, they seem to have a lot of bloat and fat that needs cutting, they seem to be inefficient and ineffective, and seem to waste a lot of money. However, I ardently believe in their purpose - that of pushing the limits of human technology and resources and reaching out to the stars.

Thus when I saw this article, I was definitely disappointed, both in NASA and the Obama administration. (This isn't the first time I was disappointed with this administration, but that's another issue.)

That fact that this article and story, as far as I can tell, broke on The Times, a London based news source, also disheartened me. Is America so apathetic regarding space exploration that our media won't give the story the time of day?

Excerpt of the story below:

Nasa has begun to wind down construction of the rockets and spacecraft that were to have taken astronauts back to the Moon — effectively dismantling the US human spaceflight programme despite a congressional ban on its doing so.

Legislators have accused President Obama’s Administration of contriving to slip the termination of the Constellation programme through the back door to avoid a battle on Capitol Hill.

Constellation aimed to build upon what was arguably America’s greatest technological achievement, the first lunar landing of 1969, by launching new expeditions to the Moon and to Mars and worlds beyond. Mr Obama proposed in February that it should be scrapped because it was “over budget, behind schedule and lacking in innovation”, but he has met opposition in Congress, which has yet to approve his plan.The head of Nasa, Major-General Charlie Bolden — an Obama appointee — has now written to aerospace contractors telling them to cut back immediately on Constellation-related projects costing almost $1 billion (£690 million), to comply with regulations requiring them to budget for possible contract termination costs.

The move has been branded a “disingenuous legal manoeuvre” and referred to Nasa’s inspector-general for investigation. “It’s bordering on arrogance by the Administration to boldly and brazenly go forward with this approach. It shows a blatant disregard for Congress,” said the Republican Congressman Rob Bishop, of Utah, whose constituency stands to lose thousands of jobs. Two weeks ago the Senate passed legislation that compels Nasa to continue work on Constellation unless Congress directs otherwise. That legislation is due to be signed into law by Mr Obama this month while Congress continues its deliberations over his proposal to cancel the current space space progamme.

Since this administration has, thus far, been all about big budget vast changes to our governmental structure, I'm surprised he didn't try to start a moon colony, to be quite honest.

Sarcasm aside, it's starting to look more and more like Virgin Galactic and other private space enthusiasts might be our last, best chance to get off of this rock. Or maybe India will take up the mantle in the United State's place. I'm sure that's a legacy we can be proud of, winning the space race only to give up and peter out in deference to the rest of the world.

Seriously. We first landed on the moon 41 years ago. Why haven't we been back since? This marks one giant leap backward for mankind.