Since these comments about last evenings State of the Union Address and Scott Kellys invite by the President to be there have been removed from another board, I thought it would be a good idea to preserve those thoughts here for others chew on. I was reacting to someone that accused President Obama of using Kelly as a prop and called the Presidents space policy feckless. I have to admit, the prop conclusion had, for a nanosecond passed my mind too. However to be fair, I recalled that other sitting US Presidents have done the same. Example: President Reagan used the Shuttle Columbia as a back drop to make a speech after the orbiter landed completing her final test flight. Reagan used the speech to declare the Space Transportation System operational. The orbiter Challenger was there too, fresh off the assembly line at Palmdale the sticker in the window most likely she still had that new orbiter smell and was ready to be sent to the Kennedy Space Center to be prepared for her first mission. Its great political theater and a chance for the incumbent President to look Presidential. There is nothing wrong with it, its just the way the game of politics is played and given the opportunity both sides of the political spectrum do play the game very well. I still say there is a bit of irony with this President congratulating NASA on the successful flight of our new spacecraft, Orion, on 5 December, 2014. Orion is a ship that initially President Obama had cancelled in 2010 and didnt want NASA to have. If I recall, he wanted to turn NASA into strictly an R&D agency with a sole purpose of working on new technologies, propulsion and life support systems with no real way of getting to space on its own for awhile in order to get ready for a possible Mars shot in the 2030s. NASA would depend solely on commercial companies to get us into space exclusively. Some called the plan bold an visionary. I disagreed and called it a promissory note. Congress stepped in, and not because they cared a fig about NASA, but because the 2010 policy was set without Congressional debate. The end result was that Orion was saved having gone though a few revisions. However inviting Scott Kelly, a NASA astronaut who is set make some history in two months with his marathon one year tour on the ISS, during something like the State of the Union Address was a good gesture. We need heroes right now, real ones. Not ones on a playing field, record label, or ( dare I say it) a Reality TV show. An astronaut is a reminder that we can peacefully strive to be something noble and better than we currently are. So I do appreciate the President giving Scott Kelly and the ISS one year increment a moment in the sun. However will the Presidents high sounding words translate into more funds for the US space agency or a cohesive and sustainable space policy? That remains to be seen. NASA funding historically has been flat and your less than half a penny investment of your tax dollar will continue into the near future. We are building Orion and SLS two amazing exploratory tools with tremendous potential, but have no really clear path for them past the second exploration mission flight. The President offered soaring oratory here but Id like to see deeds not words. The last administration failed and its vision, Project Constellation, died due to lack of support and political will. Time is running out and come January 2017, the reset button is hit. Once again a missed opportunity. Will be interesting to sort though what this Presidents legacy for space will be.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 01:27:18 +0000
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