It's looking likely that the Obama administration will implement a policy that I support. This is such a rare event that it calls for special celebration around here. Woo hoo!
That policy? Abandoning the “return to the moon” objectives set by President G. W. Bush. Implicitly this also means abandoning the next step: a manned mission to Mars. Obama is angling toward commercialization of space, by encouraging NASA to use commercial launchers instead of NASA's (outrageously expensive) launch vehicles.
It sounds wonderful. It also sounds like something a fiscally conservative Republican or Libertarian might do, and most unlike something a leftie like Obama would do. I think this might have been slipped into his plans by some jokester.
But there's a big caveat. Any such proposal would have to pass Congress, and we have a surprising number of congresscritters in thrall to the NASA powers-that-be. This is because since it's origins in the 1950s, several bureaucratically-savvy NASA administrators have cleverly located NASA facilities supporting the manned space program all over the danged place. There are darned few states that don't take home some yummy NASA pork.
So don't hold your breath.
But I'm sure keeping my fingers crossed...
No comments:
Post a Comment