Was 'one small step for man' worth it?
by Michael Potter
11:18 AM PDT, July 22, 2009
I argue the position of the "great moon hoax," even though we know that the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon was probably the greatest triumph in human history. And certainly, by extension, Apollo 11 was the pinnacle moment for the United States and NASA in the area of space exploration. It is important, though, that the moon landings are understood in the context of the "space race," which was driven by the Cold War and ideological rivalries between the superpowers.
Even today, space programs around the world are fueled by national pride and perceived strategic necessity. When we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Americans landing on the moon, what are we celebrating? Despite the great successes of Apollo, I would argue that our sentiments of adulation for the Moon landings are misplaced, hollow and insincere. The truth is that, after the moon landings, the U.S. shamelessly surrendered its leadership in the pursuit of mankind's expansion into the heavens.
Of course, we can point to a number of impressive U.S. space accomplishments, both manned and robotic, since Apollo. But can we point to many transformational moments in space since humans first walked on the moon four decades ago? The U.S. has had a number of important accomplishments, including many high-profile rover missions. But shockingly, today we are talking about the possibility of going back to the Moon -- and in more than a decade's time.
Yes, the U.S. won the space sprint, but why is Russia leading in the space marathon? In 2010, the U.S. will be retiring the space shuttle, NASA's only manned space vehicle. Our space agency will be paying the Russians $55 million a seat for each American astronaut that flies after 2010 on their rockets. So what are we celebrating when we commemorate the moon landing? Are we celebrating that the U.S. has gone very far down the road of forfeiting its space and moon leadership to the Russians, Chinese and Indians? These do not strike me as reasons to celebrate or even to project an exuberance of optimism.
To continue the inventory of humiliation in U.S. space activities, the U.S. has recently started talking about de-orbiting the $100-billion space station in 2016. One cannot make any sense of either the sketchy plans or the sketchy funding for new NASA launch vehicles, space station and possible plans to return to moon and go on to Mars. Current U.S. plans and funding for space exploration simply do not add up.
NASA has recently received $1 billion in federal stimulus funding, but spending this much money on government bureaucracy is guaranteed to produce negative returns. By contrast, $1 billion invested in small and medium-sized space technology companies has the compelling potential to generate exponential technological and financial returns for taxpayers and for the space program.
Perhaps the greatest part of the moon hoax is to believe that the past moon landings were part of a rational, sustainable strategy for the permanent habitation of humans in the heavens. If we are not honest and serious about our challenges to conquer the heavens, then I believe we should consider more subdued celebrations. The greatest challenges to U.S. space activities can be traced to political and congressional dysfunction more than the engineering and technological challenges.
On the other hand, if we collectively take our "small step" and can be honest about the current problems and challenges we face, and if we are willing to aggressively enter into a results-oriented mode, we have much to celebrate about the future.
When we return to the lunar surface under the banner of Moon 2.0, let's go there with the intention to make our efforts both practical and sustainable. Less of our efforts should be driven by national pride and more of our efforts should be driven by international cooperation and commercial logic. We need to find the most efficient balance between manned space operations, low-cost module platforms and robotic solutions.
But when we do venture back into space, let's stay this time.
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