Bungee cord for U.S. manned space program

William Atkins
Sunday, 18 April 2010 23:40

Opinion and Analysis

The United States doesn't seem to like a long-range manned space program. And, it doesn't appear that it will be any different in the future. As NASA swings wildly in this direction and now that direction, the U.S. manned space program seems to be attached to a bungee cord provided by the U.S. Congress and the U.S. White House.

 

The U.S. federal government, that is, primarily the U.S. Congress and the President, does not seem to understand that for any federal program to succeed it needs to have consistency over the long term.

A program in education, defense, or other such endeavor is less likely to succeed when long-term consistency is not provided. A bunch of money is thrown at a program for a few years, and then several years of ignoring it zaps its forward motion.

 

This zig-zag motion, whether in funding or change in policies, doesn't help to promote success in any national program

Such an inconsistency seems to be the root problem of the U.S. manned space program.

A very good example of consistency is the Russian Soyuz Program. Although not very exciting at all, the Russian Soyuz programs (both its capsules and rockets) have consistently proven over many decades to be a reliable way to send its cosmonauts into space and to safety bring them back.

On the other hand, the United States seems to need to abruptly change their manned space program in very dramatic ways.

However, we didn't do this early in manned space flight. Mercury started the American bid to reach to the Moon with a space capsule that sent one astronaut into space. That was followed up with Gemini'”with a two-man team.

 

Ultimately, we got to the Moon with a trio of astronauts riding inside an Apollo space capsule. It was a giant step for mankind, but one that abruptly stopped for one man and one nation.

 

Then, the abruptness of change took over. We began the space shuttle program, which was a sudden change in policy on how to get astronauts into space.

 

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