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Constellation Key to Space Leadership
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- [____] The current US plan has no goals or timelines, which undermines US leadership in space.
- Space Leadership Key to Hegemony
Constellation Key to Space Leadership[____] [____] Ending Constellation will end US leadership, Constellation typifies American leadership in space. J Paul Douglas, remote sensing engineer for NOAA Satellite Operations Facility and former NASA Spacecraft Analyst, 3/5/2010, “Constellation Plan-B a Good Idea” http://spacetalknow.org/wordpress/?p=1710 When the Administration announced it’s proposal to scrap NASA’s Constellation project, it touched off an explosion of opposition including a bipartisan letter to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden asking him to cease and desist in his actions to begin dismantling the program before the issue can be addressed — and voted upon — by the Congress. The American people have invested billions already in the program, and any unilateral action to end it is not only improper but unlawful. And many believe that to end Constellation completely will effectively end US leadership in space. Now the rank and file within NASA are speaking up. In an effort lead by former astronaut and now Director of Johnson Space Center Michael Coats, NASA will be considering a Plan-B, and in his first show of independence since taking over as chief of the agency, Administrator Bolden is backing Coats’ play. He has instructed all NASA center directors to begin exploring “what a potential compromise might look like.” The plan will be a stunningly rational effort to realign the goals of Constellation so that commercial, human space flight can assume the long-overdue role of transporting cargo and people to low earth orbit while leaving US leadership on the frontier of space intact. No other program typifies American leadership in space better than Constellation, but to be sure, some change is necessary. [____] The current US plan has no goals or timelines, which undermines US leadership in space.Taylor Dinerman, Consultant for the Department of Defense and columnist for the Space Review, 6/9/2010 “The Collapse of NASA?,” http://www.hudson-ny.org/1366/the-collapse-of-nasa The attempt to kill George W. Bush's Constellation Program has thrown NASA and the US space industry into chaos. If the next human to set foot on the Moon is not a US astronaut, that change will be seen by the rest of the world as a major humiliation for this country. Those who say, "Been there, done that" will be answered with, "Can't go there, can't do that." In his testimony at the May 12th hearing, former astronaut Neil Armstrong said, "If the leadership we have acquired through our investment is allowed to simply fade away, other nations will surely step in where we have faltered. I do not believe that this would be in our best interest." Although the Constellation Program may have been modestly underfunded, it was based on technological and political reality. The new "Obama Program," however, currently proposed as a substitute for the Constellation, recommend a "flexible path" to human space exploration, yet provides no solid goals or timelines, and only a few vague promises that, with "game changing technology," NASA will someday be able to visit an asteroid or, in the very long term, send people to the moons of Mars. It is, as Apollo Astronaut Gene Cernan before a US Senate Committee on May 12th put it, "a travesty which flows against the grain of over 200 years of our history." The proposal is also based on the idea that the US cannot be the world's leader in space technology. It must now seek to subordinate its space ambitions to the international community. Even to the extent of killing off large segments of the space industry. Space Leadership Key to Hegemony[____] [____] Giving up leadership in space proves to other nations that America is in decline. Alan Dowd, Senior Fellow of the Fraser Institute focus on Defense and Security, 8/17/2009, “Surrendering Outer Space,” http://www.fraseramerica.org/commerce.web/article_details.aspx?pubID=6853 Surrendering the ability to carry astronauts into space promises to be a blow to America’s international stature. And in this age of global connectivity and global competition, what may seem like a marginal matter could become a serious problem. We already live at a time America is perceived as a nation in decline. Pierre Hassner of the Paris-based National Foundation for Political Science recently concluded, “It will not be the New American Century.” A 2005 piece in the Guardian dismissed America as “the hollow superpower.” It’s no wonder that Obama addressed the “nagging fear” of America’s decline in his inauguration speech, and Bush dismissed “the belief that America is in decline” in his 2006 State of the Union address. What’s relevant here is how America’s self-imposed absence from space could fuel the declinist fire, weaken America’s standing, and enhance the position of America’s enemies. Again, history is instructive: When Sputnik rocketed into orbit and Moscow triumphed, Senator Henry Jackson called it “a national week of shame and danger.” America’s attempt to match Moscow only highlighted the gap between the two superpowers when, weeks after Sputnik, America’s answer, Vanguard, exploded on takeoff. Leebaert writes that Moscow’s initial space superiority was “alarming because it was far more visible than anything else in science and technology.” Combined with America’s futility, the situation negatively impacted the country’s prestige and security, “the two in those days being habitually linked. Space Leadership Key to Hegemony[____] [____] A program to return humans to the moon like constellation is essential to maintain national security and secure resources in space that will be vital in the future. Harrison Schmitt, Former U.S. Senator and Former Chair of the NASA Advisory Council, 8/10/2009 “Liberty and Space Leadership,” http://www.spacenews.com/commentaries/liberty-and-space-leadership.html In spite of these difficulties, history tells us that an aggressive program to return Americans to deep space, initially the Moon and then to Mars, must form an essential component of national policy. Americans would find it unacceptable, as well as devastating to human liberty, if we abandon leadership in deep space to the Chinese, Europe or any other nation or group of nations. Potentially equally devastating would be loss of access to the energy resources of the Moon as fossil fuels diminish on Earth. In the harsh light of history, it is frightening to contemplate the long-term, totally adverse consequences to the standing of the United States in modern civilization of a decision to abandon deep space. What, then, should be the focus of national space policy in order to maintain leadership in deep space? Some propose that we concentrate only on Mars. Without the experience of returning to the Moon, however, we will not have the engineering or physiological insight for many decades to either fly to Mars or land there. Others suggest going to an asteroid. As important as asteroid diversion from a collision with the Earth someday may be, just going there is hardly a stimulating policy initiative, and it is a capability that comes automatically with a return to the Moon. Returning to the Moon and to deep space constitutes the right course for the United States. Human exploration of space embodies basic instincts — the exercise of freedom, betterment of one’s conditions and curiosity about nature. These instincts have been manifested in desires for new homelands, trade and knowledge. For Americans particularly, such instincts lie at the very core of our unique and special society of immigrants. Over the last 150,000 years or more, human exploration of Earth has yielded new homes, livelihoods, know how and resources as well as improved standards of living and increased family security. In historical times, governments have directly and indirectly played a role in encouraging exploration efforts. Private groups and individuals often have taken additional initiatives to explore newly discovered or newly accessible lands and seas. Based on their specific historical experience, Americans can expect that the benefits sought and won in the past also will flow from their return to the Moon, future exploration of Mars and the long reach beyond. To realize such benefits, however, Americans must continue as the leader of human activities in space. 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