Diminished Vision

Here is some very disturbing news that makes the upcoming presidential election all the more critical for supporters of the plan to return to the Moon (Spaceflight Now - Moon Stuck):

Some of the most influential leaders of the space community are quietly working to offer the next U.S. president an alternative to President Bush's "vision for space exploration" -- one that would delete a lunar base and move instead toward manned missions to asteroids along with a renewed emphasis on Earth environmental spacecraft.

Top U.S. planetary scientists, several astronauts and former NASA division directors will meet privately at Stanford University on Feb. 12-13 to define these sweeping changes to the NASA/Bush administration Vision for Space Exploration (VSE).

Abandoning the Bush lunar base concept in favor of manned asteroid landings could also lead to much earlier manned flights to Mars orbit, where astronauts could land on the moons Phobos or Deimos.

What can those of us who support the Vision do? I suggest the following steps:

1. Contact your Congressional representative and voice your support for the lunar program and the NASA budget.
2. Contact the campaign headquarters for your favorite presidential candidate and ask them what their position is on manned space exploration in general and the lunar program in particular. Feel free to report back here the results of your efforts.
3. Use your blogs to continue to express support for the lunar program.

This presidential election could dramatically change the course of American space exploration, let's make sure that voters who care about this issue have the information they need to cast an informed vote.

Comments

[actionforspace.com]

Follow all 3 of these suggestions at www.actionforspace.com!

There is not only email to contact the candidates, but the ability to fax all of the candidates at once!

www.actionforspace.com has all of their phone numbers and a place to leave comments about your experiences.

www.actionforspace.com is ground zero for the groundswell of grassroots support to go to the moon!

[Joel]

Thanks for your comment. I've looked over your blog Action For Space and I'm impressed with the resources you provide there. I've added a link to it from my list of space blogs. Thanks, and keep up the good work!