In just over 12 hours, President Obama is going to deliver the annual state of the Union Address for 2011, in which he, acting as the face of the country, will opine on the state of America as a nation in front of the Congress, Supreme Court, and most importantly, the American people. So, with the notion of assessing national welfare on Earth being quite popular right now, why not take a look at the current state of America in space, too?
Thus begins the state of NASA.
Right now, the state of NASA is not a good one. For the first time in the space agency's 50+ year existence, it finds itself without a clear direction for manned missions. When organized in 1958, NASA's main aim was to get America into space as soon as possible. In 1961, the focus, thanks to President John F. Kennedy, became landing men on the Moon and returning them to Earth. By the time Project Apollo ended in 1972, NASA already had two objectives set before it: the Skylab satellite missions and, even further into the future, the space shuttle. In the shuttle era, another focus became even larger than America itself via the International Space Station (ISS). Now in 2011, as the shuttle era comes to a close, for the first time in its history, NASA finds itself without a purpose when it comes to manned spaceflight.
Why? The harmony of space (imagine if all nations could get along on Earth as the astronauts of different nationalities do on the ISS) is being threatened by discord on Earth.
Right now, NASA is in a state of limbo. In 2010, President Obama signed the NASA Authorization Act, which laid out the blueprint for NASA's future objectives, chief among them, an asteroid mission that will serve as a stepping stone to a manned Mars landing. Unfortunately, the Authorization Act means nothing without the money that can only be provided through an appropriations bill, which has to, by law, start in the House of Representatives. Problem: last year, Congress never passed such a bill, which means that the responsibility falls to the new Congress, controlled by Republicans, who were swept into office for, among other things, their promise to cut government spending.
Needless to say, NASA may be on the chopping block, which also means that hundreds of Americans could lose their jobs if one of NASA's nearly two dozen centers, among them the Cleveland Glenn Research Center, were to close or have its programs cut.
Right now, America's future in space is tenuous. Yes, NASA is one of the few government agencies still viewed in a positive light, but on the other hand, a lot of people (sadly) see space exploration as a waste of time and effort, which means that NASA could find itself on the chopping block. With the government failing to pass any real binding resolutions for NASA (the Authorization Act might as well be a wish list without the cash), there is, for the first time, no clear goal for America's space agency. Undoubtedly, the new Congress will play a huge role in deciding what NASA will be doing for the foreseeable future. So far, though, NASA's future is about as clear as a cloudy sky. Governmental indecision coupled with the end of the shuttle era and the fact that the development of private spacecraft is in its infancy leads to a bleak future for America's efforts to explore space.
Obviously, something will have to be done by the new Congress to set NASA on a new course among the stars. Unfortunately, these decisions will be made by politicians, not science advocates like myself and the tens of thousands of others who realize that the very future of the human race resides with space exploration in the present.
Want to watch the State of the Union Address? Several Cleveland TV stations will be carrying it, including main news outlets channels 3, 5, 8, 19 and WVIZ PBS..
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