Ares Soars

Finally some good news from NASA:

For first time since 1981, the rocket that took off Wednesday from a launching pad at the Kennedy Space Center here was not a space shuttle. With a clearing in a partly cloudy sky, the Ares I-X rocket — a prototype of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s next-generation Ares I rocket — zipped off at 11:30 a.m., heading east over the Atlantic Ocean. [...] For the NASA team working on the Constellation program to send astronauts to the Moon and beyond, the flight was a moment of smiles and joy, if not quite vindication. Critics have described the Ares I, which would be the first Constellation rocket to fly, as too expensive and technically flawed.

A successful launch is great news, but this comes at a time when the entire manned space program is under review. I'd like to feel good about this launch but I don't. The political winds are turning against NASA. Where are NASA's supporters in Congress? Who is speaking out for the U.S. space program? It's all about to be shut down, thousands thrown out of work, and expertise and skills lost that can't be quickly recovered. The U.S. is on the verge of sitting out the next stage of the space race just as other countries are starting to ramp up their efforts. I'm at a loss to explain it.

Photo Credit: The New York Times

Comments

[Carl J.]

""I'm at a loss to explain it.""

Let me try to help:
1. Biggest federal deficit in history.
2. Worst economic crisis since The Great Depression.
3. All "socialized" programs, including space exploration are under relentless attack from right wing fiscal conseratives.
4. A new generation of La-De-Da Americans that could frankly care less if India or China goes back to the moon before us because we're too busy texting on our Blackberries, watching Dancing With The Stars and generally having fun.

[Joel]

Carl, thanks for that summary. I suspect you're right, most American simply won't care at all, even Republicans (who normally care about waving the flag and national security), not until they see another country plant their flag on the Moon and Mars.

Maybe it will happen sooner, when people realize that the current policy is to let the shuttles die and be dependent on the good will of Russia to get Americans into space.

I just hope it's not too late by the time the fickle public and their pandering representatives decide it's time to have a national space program.