NASA’s “Vision for Space Exploration”: a vision for government or its people?

William Atkins
Saturday, 15 September 2007 04:26

Opinion and Analysis

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His article “How to save your Vision” appears at: http://www.thespacereview.com/article/953/1.
 
Steven J. Dick, NASA chief historian, has composed a series of essays called, “Why We Explore”. He says, “From the time of our birth, humans have felt a primordial urge to explore -- to blaze new trails, map new lands, and answer profound questions about ourselves and our universe.”

His series of essays appear at: http://www.history.nasa.gov/.

NASA states, “In a Gallup poll, 68% of those surveyed support the new plan [Vision for Space Exploration] to return to the moon, then travel to Mars and beyond.”

Sietzen states in his article, “The last time I saw a focus group report on what people knew or didn’t know about space exploration, less than ten percent ever even heard of the Vision [for Space Exploration]. How does NASA expect people to support something if they don’t even know what it is?”

Both can’t be right…or can they? I guess it depends on what poll you look at.

Very few controversies are one sided—if they were, now, they wouldn’t be controversies, would they?

NASA has a long and vibrant history in the United States. It is our best space program, according to those in favor of it. It is our worst space program, according to those against it.

It is probably considered the world’s best space program, with only the Russian space program having served the space community as long and as successfully as NASA in the United States.

However, new, upstart competitors are quickly moving up into the galactic fast lane. Japan just shot an unmanned spacecraft to the Moon on September 14, 2007. China, India, the European Space Agency, the United Kingdom, and others are preparing to launch manned and unmanned missions to the Moon, Mars, Venus, and other places out there in space.

We are no longer in President Kennedy’s age of space exploration, where people accepted that we had to get to the Moon to beat the Soviets. The media, today, doesn’t protect presidents or space programs from negative press.

What you see and hear in the press these days may not always produce a good view of whom or what they are talking about. NASA is not composed of drunken and diaper-wearing astronauts. One bad egg does not spoil the chicken farm, although sometimes when listening to the TV you might think so.

Any organization has its fair share of “colorful” personalities. We gossip about them every day at work and back at home.

NASA deserves a chance to show what it can do. We know that it is darn good at sending unmanned spacecraft to Mars. We just saw the sister rovers Opportunity and Spirit survive months of a Martian dust storm and still come out of it ready to work. A three-month mission by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has now been extended past 3.5 years.

We saw a lot of accomplishments with the manned space shuttle fleet, but also two terrible moments. Risk is part of any venture. Without the services of NASA, the United States would have a big void to fill. On the other hand, the citizens of the United States deserve a good return from its investment in NASA and, for that matter, from any of the numerous government organizations around the country.

To dream for flights to the stars, they must be filled with reality. Any national project attempted must be given the total conviction of the country. Instead of going into it half-heartedly, let’s do it right the first time.

A good analogy might be with the automobile industry. When was the last time you saw a Toyota or Honda car recalled after being built? How about a Ford or Chevrolet? All four companies are selling cars. Two are having record profits while the other two aren’t. Two are doing it right the first time, while the other two aren’t. That doesn’t mean it will always be that way.
 
But, for now, it is.

If we are going to have a space program, let’s have one that we are proud of. The Right Stuff can be a reality again. It doesn’t come overnight—it must be consistent year after year after year. The effort takes years, decades, and ultimately an endless amount of hard work to make it succeed so we all can be proud of the accomplishments.