No More Space Program

Man walking on the moon is arguably one of the most amazing achievements of mankind. I was not even born until over twenty years after this amazing acheivement but I am still amazed and intrigued by man landing on the moon. Because of this, I was extremely excited with the announcement of the Constellation space program that is going to be sending man to the moon once more. NASA's goal was to have men on the moon by the year 2020 and the program was moving along very smoothly, with the new rocket prototype test flight occuring last fall. Everything seemed to be according to plan until President Obama announced his preliminary fiscal budget for 2011.

In his budget, there was a huge spending cut to NASA. He didn't specifically say that he was cancelling the constellation program, but that is essentially what he did. There is no way that NASA can keep on funding the program with the huge budget deficit that they are going to have next year. This is a real shame. Space exploration is something that Americans have always been able to be proud of in the United States and now all that is over. Obama wants to eventually totally privatize the space industry. I think that the space industry should always be the responsibility of the government because it helps to unite the country, especially when you see that american flag on the side of the space shuttle. It gives such a sense of national pride. With a private space industry, it just won't mean as much anymore. I think that it is going to turn into another business type deal. The private space companies are only going to be concerned with making money.

Hopefully, Obama realizes how much eliminating the space program will hurt his image and he will change his mind. If he doesn't change his mind, then I hope that future presidents do. The space program is such an amazing accomplishment for mankind, not just the United States. It helps to unite countries that are usually fighting against eachother to work together for the common good. Without continuing to push deeper and deeper into space, I think that the world will lose one of its greatest assets and this would be a real shame.