Barack Obama Continues to Disdain Space Exploration
Barack Obama’s recent statements concerning the direction of the civil space program in his potential administration is the cause of confusion at best, of very grave concern at worse. Since the conventional wisdom has made Senator Obama the probable Democratic nominee for President in 2008, an examination of his proposed space policy is in order.
Senator Obama roused the attention of space aficionados when, a few months ago, he proposed delaying the operation of NASA’s Orion/Ares space craft for five years in order to pay for an education program. Since there is already, currently, a five year gap between the retirement date of the space shuttle in 2010 and the planned advent of the Orion/Ares in 2015, Obama’s original proposal would have meant-absent a commercial solution-a full ten years in which American astronauts would be obliged to ride on foreign space craft to low Earth orbit.
More recently, Senator Obama has chosen to backtrack a little, now claiming that he is not only not in favor of lengthening the space flight gap, but in favor of narrowing it. He is still in favor, however, of delaying the return of astronaut explorers to the Moon, again to pay for education.
Obama’s proposal seems to be one part political calculation and one part blunder. It is a political calculation insofar as Obama cannot expect to win Texas in the general election (Florida, another space state, is another matter.) Also the proposal could prove difficult to oppose since it is designed to benefit school children.
Obama’s proposal is a blunder, though, because the cost savings he proposes by delaying the space exploration initiative won’t be available until after the space shuttle retires in 2010. Until then, the vast majority of the money being spent on the space exploration initiative is being used to build the Orion/Ares, which Senator Obama now says he favors. That means that Obama would not be able to even fund his education initiative until 2011 at the earliest.
Senator Obama has not revealed how he proposes to narrow the space flight gap. He has not even mentioned commercial solutions that are now in the works, as part of the Commercial Orbital Transportation Systems (COTS) program. He has not suggested spending more money, as has been proposed by Senators Hutchison and Mikulski, to narrow the space flight gap. The voter is supposed to surmise what Senator Obama means.
Obama’s proposal to delay the space exploration initiative, designed to send astronaut explorers back to the Moon, to Mars, and beyond, should cause great worry to anyone who believes that the United States should remain a leader in space exploration in the long term. Obama’s proposal would delay, perhaps even longer than he suggests, the scientific and commercial benefits of exploring other world. The proposal would run the risk of ceding those benefits to other countries, particularly China, with a greater appreciation of what space flight can do for the prosperity and well being of humanity.
Senator Obama has actually been dismissive of even the idea of humans flying in space. He spoke of “sending bodies into space”, seemingly disdainful of the idea of astronauts as living, breathing human beings, some of whom have given the last full measure of devotion for the dream of space flight.
More recently responded to a question about his space proposals put to him by space activist Greg Zsidisin. Zsidisin reported:
“He didn’t really address the space vs. education aspect – that is, why he is singling out human spaceflight to de-fund for education. He did say he was born in 1961, and that space inspired him in his youth. He then mentioned Star Trek and the other quoted parts (‘NASA doesn’t inspire now’). He also said that NASA can’t get the engineers now that the increase in education would fund (!).
“He never specifically mentioned delaying a Shuttle replacement or the return to the Moon, saying he’d defer ‘certain segments’ of the space program. (Single quotes – I don’t remember the phrasing well enough for doubles.)”
A journalistic blog called The Swamp also reported on the exchange. “Obama responded that while he “believe[s] in the final frontier”, he thought NASA had lost focus and was no longer inspirational to youth. The report indicated, but did not directly quite Obama as saying, that he would cut NASA’s budget if elected “until the mission is clearer”
Obama’s answer is, to say the least, more than a little troubling. The part about being a Trekkie was more than a little insulting, but par for the course for Obama’s tendency to want to have it both ways.
People will answer the question of whether to vote for this candidate or that according to their own values and what they perceive those of the particular candidate of. It seems, though, that if one has any concern about the United States as a space faring nation, Barack Obama’s stated positions on space is one reason to vote against him in the general election.