Obama's New Mission for NASA: Now We Know What's More Important than Manned Space Flight

How much proof do Americans need that the Obama agenda is hell bent on running the greatness of the United States into the ground. His recent decision to abort, Constellation, the manned space program in motion to replace the Space Shuttle program which closes up shop later this year takes America from the world’s leader in space exploration to a miserable also-ran in just a matter of weeks. Now he has set the bold new mission for NASA, better relations with the Muslim world.

Did you get that? Better relations with the Muslim world?

Obama appointment, NASA administrator, Charles Bolden stated: "When I became the NASA administrator -- or before I became the NASA administrator -- he charged me with three things. One was he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math, he wanted me to expand our international relationships, and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science ... and math and engineering,"

The source of this quote is Al Jazeera, the international Islamic news network.

Whatever happened to commitment to explore new frontiers, develop new technologies, and further man’s understanding of the earth and the universe?

It’s hard to be American and not feel horribly embarrassed and short changed by such stupid decision making.

Apollo Astronauts Armstrong, Lovell, and Cernan Blast Obama Destruction of Man Space Program

A civilization that does not stride to the future is condemned to fall backwards. In the myriad of dreadful decisions made by the Obama administration, we once again speak out against the ridiculous decision to end the next phase of manned space exploration with only three more Space Shuttle missions remaining before its all over. While the Shuttle completes its current mission, we reflect on the nonsense Barack Obama has thrust on one America's greatest achievements. Once the final space shuttle flight concludes, the United States will have no means to achieve manned earth orbit. U.S. Astronauts will be launched to the station at a cost of over $51 million dollars per astronaut via a Russian Soyez rocket. To think, the Space Station itself was originally a NASA project.
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Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11, first man to walk the moon; James Lovell, Apollo 8 and 13 astronaut, Eugene Cernan, Apollo 17 see the tragedy the administration has thrust upon us and have responded brilliantly. Sadly, the stubborn President who seldom accepts any criticism with anything less than hostility is unlikely to be moved.
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Our Apollo heroes write:

The United States entered into the challenge of space exploration under President Eisenhower’s first term, however, it was the Soviet Union who excelled in those early years," the letter begins."Under the bold vision of Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, and with the overwhelming approval of the American people, we rapidly closed the gap in the final third of the 20th century, and became the world leader in space exploration. ...
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"When President Obama recently released his budget for NASA, he proposed a slight increase in total funding, substantial research and technology development, an extension of the International Space Station operation until 2020, long range planning for a new but undefined heavy lift rocket and significant funding for the development of commercial access to low earth orbit.
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Although some of these proposals have merit, the accompanying decision to cancel the Constellation program, its Ares 1 and Ares V rockets, and the Orion spacecraft, is devastating.
"America’s only path to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station will now be subject to an agreement with Russia to purchase space on their Soyuz (at a price of over 50 million dollars per seat with significant increases expected in the near future) until we have the capacity to provide transportation for ourselves. The availability of a commercial transport to orbit as envisioned in the President’s proposal cannot be predicted with any certainty, but is likely to take substantially longer and be more expensive than we would hope.
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It appears that we will have wasted our current ten plus billion dollar investment in Constellation and, equally importantly, we will have lost the many years required to recreate the equivalent of what we will have discarded.
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For The United States, the leading space faring nation for nearly half a century, to be without carriage to low Earth orbit and with no human exploration capability to go beyond Earth orbit for an indeterminate time into the future, destines our nation to become one of second or even third rate stature. While the President's plan envisages humans traveling away from Earth and perhaps toward Mars at some time in the future, the lack of developed rockets and spacecraft will assure that ability will not be available for many years.
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Without the skill and experience that actual spacecraft operation provides, the USA is far too likely to be on a long downhill slide to mediocrity. America must decide if it wishes to remain a leader in space. If it does, we should institute a program which will give us the very best chance of achieving that goal.
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Neil Armstrong
Commander, Apollo 11
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James Lovell
Commander, Apollo 13
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Eugene Cernan
Commander, Apollo 17

February 1, 2010: The Day America Turned its Back on the Future

Freedom 7, May 1961: America's first manned

space excursion. This September, America will

launch its last manned space mission.

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In the wee hours of Saturday morning at 4:39 am, mission STS-130 will be launched aboard Space Shuttle Endeavor. It will be Endeavor’s next to last flight. Between now and September, Saturday’s launch will be one of the five final Space Shuttle missions all designed to finish the build out of the International Space Station. Atlantis has one more flight, STS-132 in May. Discovery flies with missions STS-131 in March and the final Shuttle flight STS-133 tentatively set to launch on September 16th. Endeavor makes its last flight in July.

When Discovery touches down at the end of its mission, that’s it, the end of manned space missions from the United States. What started with great fanfare with Alan Shepherd’s first flight in May of 1961 will evaporate with a whimper almost 50 years later. Considering the last lunar mission was in December, 1972, most of the fireworks all took place in the first twelve years of the program. While surely a space station in continuous operation has its scientific and technological merit, it is a far cry from that which we are capable of developing. Further, considering that which was originally planned and how much has been compromised, the station is only a glimmer of what could have been.

With the Obama administration not funding Project Constellation and the Ares Rocket program which just recently launched its first test missile, all manned space efforts on the part of NASA will be over with no provisions to go further. Constellation was the mission to guide us into the future with earth orbit and lunar missions in the planning stages to set the stage for bolder missions beyond.

Now what is there to look forward to? With the delivery of the huge volumes of the trillions of dollars in the proposed Federal Budget, a conspicuous devil in the details was waving the white flag and surrendering America’s lead as the premier space program in the world. Russia has always had a major stake in space exploration from the days of Sputnik in 1967. Over the past three decades, the European Union has developed its own highly advanced space program. Now Communist China has launched astronauts into space and has an ever more sophisticated space program developing including working on satellite killer vessels which could knock other countries’ spacecraft right out of the sky. Having become the third nation to independently launch men into space with a space station in the works and satellite missions to Mars and behind, China is well on its way to becoming a major force in outer space.

Japan and India are moving forward with ambitious space programs. While Japan has no current plans for ambitious manned space flight, they are aggressively moving into a wide range of scientific, research, and communications applications. India likewise has an ambitious satellite program including the ability to deploy multiple satellites from one launch and placing spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit. Indian manned space missions could come as soon as 2014-15.

These are examples of countries using rocket technology toward those enterprises we consider the noble exploit of space exploration; however, as the United States and Soviet Union were fully engaged in pursuing, these same technologies are the basis of their arms race as well. Both North Korea and Iran, two of the most dangerous nations on the planet have ambitious rocket programs. Nothing good can come from them being able to launch craft into orbit but it makes their ability to develop an ICBM program capable of launching nuclear missiles a certainty.

Has our nation become so complacent that we no longer appreciate why our leadership in the space race was so important in the first place?

Our nation was so shocked and terrified when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik on October 4, 1957 then quickly launched a second satellite only weeks later on November 3, 1957. Quickly, American found itself caught off-guard and there was a mad clamor to boost America’s commitment to science and technology education. Amidst numerous failures, the United States first satellite, Explorer 1, atop a Juno 1 rocket, that was a beefed up Redstone rocket, a larger and beefed up missile developed from the German V-2. It was hardly a significant space worthy rocket, launched from Cape Canaveral 52 years ago, on February 1, 1958.

America scurried about to get a meaningful space program going while the Soviets marched on , Yuri Gagarin was launched on Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961. America’s first launch would come just days later on May 5, but Freedom 7’s flight was only a suborbital short flight up and down for Alan Shepherd while the Soviets already accomplished orbit. The first US flight, Friendship 7 would come the following year on February 20, 1962.

Through the rest of the decade, the United States gained the lead in space it would never surrender resulting in man’s landing on the moon by July, 1969, but quickly our ambitions soured and our nation became to rest on its laurels. For four decades from the 1970’s to right now, no nation has gone beyond our level of accomplishment, but now it’s just a matter of time.

Remember this date, February 1, 2010, 52 to years to the date after America’s first successful satellite launch, our President destroyed our celestial vision of going where no one has gone before to wallow in meaningless sidesteps while our vision goes blind and our march to the future retreats.

Today marks a huge turning point in world history. Few will recognize it today, but what will it take for us to recognize what’s at stake?

We’re only months away from when Iran will have successfully tested its first nuclear weapon. They’re working on bigger and more powerful missiles. The time is coming soon when they will be able to place nuclear warheads atop missiles. Which reminds us: President Obama already opted to curtail an anti-missile program which would stage intercept missiles in Poland.

Scientific advancement and national defense go hand-in-hand. Each one supports the other. In a dangerous world with Islamic extremism sworn to destroy us, with energy and environmental needs we cannot successfully address, our nation’s ability to visualize our purpose in preparing for the future and committing the resources to do so have been severely clouded by myopic vision too stuck on the immediate here and now.

Bold dreams and giant steps are what the American Dream is made of. It’s time to dare to dream again lest our current Obama nightmare continue.

Obama Ends American Manned Space Flight: WHERE'S THE OUTRAGE???

Ares Rocket, our next manned space effort shot down

by short-sighted and ignorant Obama administration.

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Do we need evidence that the term “progressive” is an oxymoron?

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Consider the Obama administration’s decision to put an end to US manned space flight by not funding Project Constellation and the Ares rocket.

The Space Shuttle program ends this year with its final missions to supply the International Space Station. For the foreseeable future, the station will be manned and supplied by the Russian and European Space Agencies effectively diminishing America’s lead in the space program despite its roll in the design and construction of the station.

With future missions being sacked, our country has surrendered to a disgraceful form of technological isolationism that will have serious consequences both short term and long term. How sad it is that we have lost our vision to “boldly go where no one has gone before.”

Back in the 1960’s as the United States landed on the moon sending six missions to the moon from July, 1969 to December, 1972. Further missions were planned with at least three being scrubbed due to supposed budget concerns. Social activists, environmentalists, ultra-conservatives, and other constituencies decried the county’s effort to excel in space exploration. It became a Liberal outcry, “How can we spend millions on putting men on the moon when we have so many problems on earth?” Of course there is a substantial percentage of mindless idiots who believe Project Apollo never happened. It was a government conspiracy to stage something that looked like a moon landing to scare the Soviet Union.

Well, boo (you-know-what) hoo!!!!!

Even at the peak of deployment, NASA consumed a relatively small percentage of the Federal budget while its comparative benefits were enormous. Whether its camcorders, personal computers, or MRI technology, all these use technology that was developed for manned space flight. While we are not manufacturing consumer products in space, dealing with the challenges of life outside the surly bonds of earth provide benefits large and small at every turn.

It’s hard to imagine it has been over 37 years since the last astronaut walked on the moon. Most of America’s population wasn’t even born. Even the most pragmatic space scientist must admit, there is little inspiring about the Space Shuttle program and given the horrible fates of the Challenger which exploded after launch and the Columbia which disintegrated on reentry, that tragic loss of human life makes the nobility of the space program seem that much more hard to grasp.

Yet thinking back to John F. Kennedy’s vision when committing to lunar landing by the end of the 1960’s decade, he noted:

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”

Kennedy’s vision is a valid today as it was almost half a century ago. When we gathered to watch the first steps on the moon on the July evening of 1969, looking ahead to the future surely we would have thought man would have ventured to Mars by the turn of the century and that space flight would be an every day occurrence by now. And it all could have been if we maintained the commitment, but now in 2010, we are leaps and bounds behind the eight ball even to master the requirements just to return to the moon.

The more we understand about the Universe, the more we understand about our earth and ourselves. At some point in the future, the sun will explode and the planet Earth will be gone. If our species or whatever we evolve into is to survive, we must find out destiny out in the stars. It is almost imprinted in our DNA that will be a challenge we will accept.

From the time the earliest humans ventured out of Africa to all the continents of the world, it has been part of the human spirit to reach out, explore, to learn how to survive in strange and harsh environments, to find new ways to do things, to invent new tools of survival, and to enrich our collective knowledge.

In one arbitrary and idiotic decision, Barack Obama has slammed the door on a vital part of humanity’s advancement. Shame on him and all those who share that kind of regressive thinking. It will cost us dearly sooner than we can imagine.

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Apollo 11: 40 Years Later

Forty years ago today, Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin, and Neil Armstrong had broken loose of earth orbit and were on their way to the moon. The Command Service module would orbit the moon with Michael Collins at the helm while Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong would descend to the lunar surface in the Sea of Tranquility region in their insectile looking lunar landing module. They were launched atop a mighty three stage Saturn V rocket standing taller than a typical skyscraper. The rockets used just years earlier to propel John Glenn in to earth orbit seemed like mere bottle rockets by comparison.

It’s quite a revelation to look at the earliest Project Mercury spacecraft launching solo astronauts into orbit from 1961 to 1963 and look at the substantial advancements featured in the Apollo spacecrafts with the Gemini craft for two astronauts from 1964 to 1966 in between. President John F. Kennedy committed our country to landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade in 1961. The journey to get there was an amazing feat wrought with the dreadful Apollo I tragedy killing three astronauts during a launch pad rehearsal on January 27, 1967 taking the lives of Gus Grissom, the second American to fly into outer space, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee.

After such a setback, the notion man could still land on the moon by the end of the 1960’s seemed remote, but the resolve was tremendous. The pathway to the moon resumed October 11, 1968 when Apollo VII was the sole Apollo flight launched by the Saturn IB rocket into earth orbit. Subsequent missions would be directed at the moon or carry the lunar Lander requiring the vastly more powerful Saturn V whose 3rd stage functioned as but the 2nd stage of the lesser Saturn. What a moving experience the world was treated to witnessing Christmas, 1968 as the crew of Apollo VIII orbited the moon with television images of a giant blue marble and the ghastly cratered lunar surface were transmitted back to earth while the astronauts read from the Biblical book of Genesis, the account of creation.

Between December and July, two more Apollo flights would be necessary. The next never escaped earth orbit as Apollo IX was the first test of rendezvous and docking maneuvers with the lunar Lander. Next on deck, Apollo X shot for lunar orbit with the lunar module almost buzzing the moon’s surface.

In the summer of 1969, the Vietnam War continued on. The Beatles were still thought to be together. Gas was less than 30 cents a gallon. Cars were beautiful. Richard Nixon was in the first year of his presidency. There were no home computers, microwave ovens, or VCRS. Air conditioning was just beginning to become a must have option in much of the United States. Substantial television programming was still in black and white. The New York Jets were the reigning champs in football as the AFL and NFL were approaching the final terms of their merger. The Baltimore Orioles were the talk of baseball. Plans were afoot for a massive rock festival in upstate New York just a few weeks later.

Given only 12 years had passed since the Soviet Union launched the first manmade satellite, Sputnik, what might did we think the world of space exploration and technology would hold in store forty years later. Perhaps some clues were presented in the popular Stanley Kubrick movie, 2001, A Space Odyssey, based on Arthur C. Clark’s novel. In 2001, the earth was orbited by glorious space stations complete with every modern convenience. Colonies were on the moon, and the current frontier was the exploration of Jupiter. The spacecraft was largely computer driven, and the computer, HAL, had ideas of its own on how the mission should progress.

Given the progress the world had seen in the past twelve years, Clark’s vision didn’t seem that far fetched. Surely by 2009, man would have ventured to Mars. In 1969, satellites had already visited the red planet and Venus. Could we imagine that our quest for space would only have advanced one mission past Apollo to the Space Shuttle supporting but one international space station whose mission still remains quite nebulous to measly earthlings as it is just now getting ready to host a full crew of six explorers not just three. The shuttle will be retired next year with American manned spaced efforts supposed to resume by around 2015 with project Orion, almost a retro looking space configuration harkening back to the Apollo era poised to launch more missions to the moon. As for landing on Mars? Well…?

Many conveniences we enjoy every day as well as advanced medical equipment have their origins in the space program most notably the moon missions from project Apollo. From Velcro to personal computers to camcorders to MRI technology, all of these were advanced by the space program. Velcro was first put into use to keep objects from flying free in zero gravity.

How sad it is that our nation has lost its fascination with space and perhaps the pioneering spirit that created this nation in the first place. We’ve become a nation buried in the “here and now” and creative long range thinking does not set well with the “me” generations. While space exploration does not come inexpensively, even during the full deployment of the Apollo space program, it represented a small fraction of the Federal budget.

In 2009, the United States has lost its interest in science. Our competitive advantage in science, technology, engineering, and math are seriously losing ground to the rest of the world.

As divided as our country was in 1969 with racial tension and the Vietnam War, the teamwork and dedication of so many talented professionals from many walks of life, backgrounds, and talent worked together to accomplish a task so great.

Are there any current “frontiers” that could capture the American spirit around which out society could unite for a giant goal like a decade long quest to land on the moon?

Probably not. Nevertheless, we should commit to landing on Mars sooner than later while people who worked on Project Apollo are still alive to appreciate the results. The United States needs to work on such much needed goals which require tremendous technological growth such as energy independence. Much work is needed in the life sciences and medicine to improve health care and eradicate dreadful diseases.

Let this anniversary of Project Apollo, perhaps the boldest dream ever undertaken and accomplished serve as an invitation to dream and think big again.

We can do it.

Apollo 8: America's Christmas Rendezvous With the Moon 40 Years Later

Forty years ago this Christmas, astronauts Commander, Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot, James Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot, William Anders became the first men from earth to rendezvous on the moon as they orbited the moon for twenty hours on Christmas Eve and Christmas day of 1968. They were the first astronauts to ride atop the skyscraper sized Saturn IV booster whose third stage would reignite after achieving earth orbit to break from earth’s gravity and send the Apollo 8 Command Service Module (CSM) on a trajectory to the moon. Upon reaching the moon three days later, the CSM would fire its rocket engine to insert their spacecraft into lunar orbit. Soon humans would see terrestrial sights never viewed by mankind before as their space craft looped around the back side of the moon. While on the “dark” side of the moon, of course, radio signals could not reach earth creating a little bit of anxiety until all ground crew members were assured their mission had been executed properly.

While in orbit around the moon, Americans and people all around the world watched and listened in awe as the astronauts read the story of creation, the first ten verses of Genesis. For many, the spiritual experience was profound seeing the earth as never seen before while on the holiest day of the Christian faith our astronauts read the Biblical account of creation back to a world of anxious listeners.

As significant a landmark it was to see the far side of the moon for the first time, equally fascinating and far more stimulating was the sight of the earth getting smaller and smaller as the spacecraft approached the moon and then witnessing an “earth rise” with each orbit as the spacecraft came around from the dark side of the moon to the part of the moon visible to earth.

The mission was a huge success leading to two more test flights before Apollo 11 would land on the moon the following July. Many doubted if President John Kennedy’s mission to land a man on the moon by the end of the decade could ever be realized especially after three astronauts were incinerated atop a Saturn IB rocket their Apollo I spacecraft. The next 18 months, NASA scientists and engineers would work feverously to make up for lost time, correcting flaws in design eliminating the need for the astronauts to inhabit a 100% oxygen atmosphere in their space craft where the smallest spark, simply an electrical connection arcing over could cause a massive blaze.

Today, it’s hard to believe that it’s been four decades since man first rendezvoused with the moon and the last trip to the moon would be just four years later in December, 1972 with the launch of Apollo 17. The remaining CSM’s were used for Skylab missions and plans to build additional Saturn V boosters were cancelled. NASA’s budget was cut back to misery amounts as the manta as the Vietnam War wound down was that how could society spend money on space exploration when there are so many problems on earth. That led to the budget spacecraft which still flies today, the Space Shuttle, whose mission should conclude next year with hopes of Project Orion and possibly more moon missions after that.

While citizens criticize the space program for a variety of reasons, the benefits to society from our space missions are incalculable. Whether it’s powdered beverages like (yuck) Tang, Velcro, miniaturized television cameras and computers, and all kinds of technologies and electronics which would benefit everything from medical science to consumer products. The space program also had intangible benefits, giving the American people a chance to band together behind a common purpose continuing the pioneer spirit seeking to extend the known universe and knowledge base of humanity tremendously.

The memories of Christmas with Apollo 8 are hard to forget for baby boomers and their parents. It’s hard to believe two generations have largely passed since America’s missions to the moon. How hard it is to believe that children born on that fateful morning when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded are almost 23 years old.

America needs the space program. The benefits are overwhelming in so many areas. Those who weren’t born or old enough to remember the space race and Project Apollo would learn much by studying those missions. The commitment to excellence, the “can do” thinking, and the clear dominance of American “know how” all could use a little bit of a recharge as 2009 approaches.

Let us use this historical window, the 40th anniversaries of the various lunar missions to stimulate learning and understanding of the wonders and benefits of space exploration. We should never take such bold accomplishments for granted.