Analysis: Is the right stuff now lost in space?
September 29, 2008 By SETH BORENSTEIN , AP Science Writer
In this July 20, 1969 file photo, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin, the first men to land on the moon, plant the U.S. flag on the lunar surface. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which opened its doors on Oct. 1, 1958, is struggling with its identity and its future. Its angst is connected to the vehicle that NASA has been married to for more than half its lifetime and is seeking to dump – the space shuttle. (AP Photo/NASA, File)
(AP) -- The signs of a midlife crisis are there: A 50th birthday approaching; a longing for the glory days of youth; a hankering to dump the aging partner of 27 years; and a costly flirtation with a new young thing. This isn't some balding businessman in a sports car. It's NASA.
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Since the end of the Apollo Mission NASA has been in a declining path. It follows the lack of a specific goal, a lack of leadership. Most of NASA's actions are dictated in the congress by people that have no idea whatsoever about real science. The only aim is to get "people's support" which in turn gets around as people's interest is diverted in millions of different opinions and it is veers as the wind of news flows in many contradictory directions. When science is left to be done in the Congress that's the result.
Politics is the doom of any good action or intention. Unfortunately, that will not change so we will see this pattern for all our life times...sad but true.
However all is not lost, The Chinese and others (including private enterprise) will each enter space with slightly different emphasis and goals and the end result will still be improvements on both getting there and in what gets done when we get there.