Why the Moon?

by Eric R. Hedman Monday, May 12, 2008

To say there is uncertainty over NASA's future is an understatement. None of the three remaining presidential candidates have solidly endorsed the return to the Moon. One is calling for delaying Constellation program to pay for an early childhood program. One wants to freeze funding of all agencies with the exception of Defense and Veterans Affairs for a year while assessing their futures. And one praises NASA with generalities and gives no details on the expected level of support. The support for NASA from these three is underwhelming at best.

Politicians are very nearsighted when it comes to thinking about programs that will pay off when they are out of office or after the next election. That is one of the reasons our country is facing such an amalgam of challenges. Our leaders behave like they're trying to put band-aids on the hull of the Titanic to keep it from sinking. It looks like they're doing something, but it has negligible effect.

Some people argue that if we only turned our attention to Mars for the next generation we would excite the public into supporting that. I don't see that as a possibility.

A story that resonated with me that my 90-year-old father told me a few weeks ago is one that probably could be used by politicians to argue for some other shortsighted fix. When my father goes grocery shopping he goes to a store frequented by many other elderly people. In this new age of rapidly rising food and energy prices, he has noticed a change in behavior of other elderly shoppers. He quite often sees them pick up a product, look at the price, and put it back on the shelf. Politicians see the need for a tax rebate to put money in people's pockets. I will cash my check, but I see it as a band-aid that is needed because of a myopic approach to our nation's energy needs. Bickering in our government has meant that we have never had a good plan to meet our long-term energy needs. I see the same shortsighted approach being taken with our space program.

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