Rocket Man? Obama Tries to Hitch a Ride on Space Politics

Sens. Bill Nelson & Barack Obama, Titusville, FL/AP

Some people, it's said, find religion late. Some people, it's said, find religion in a foxhole as shots are flying.

And some people, like Sen. Barack Obama, find the religion in space exploration when it's late in the campaign season, criticisms over his anti-space views are flying, and rumors of a Democratic party split over space are  gaining velocity.

The presumptive Democratic nominee took his show on the road to Florida, swinging by rural Plant City, self-proclaimed strawberry capitol of the world, for a strawberry milkshake. Then he and his entourage headed for the Kennedy Space Center area, looking for a red, white, and blue milkshake of support from space workers and their families.

Obama, who previously has called for drastic reductions in space, now apparently has seen the rocket light. After being introduced by astronaut Senator Bill Nelson, D-Fl, Obama invoked the names of Nelson and venerable multi-mission flyer Sen. John Glenn as his future space advisors.

Glenn,  the first American to orbit the Earth, also flew in the Space Shuttle at age 77. Here's a comparison of the two vehicles and missions.  In January 1986, Nelson spent six days  orbiting Earth as a payload specialist aboard the space shuttle Columbia on mission STS 61-C.

I was there for both Glenn's shuttle flight, and Nelson's flight.  I broadcast Glenn's flight for two media outlets, one local, the other international. The Glenn event was especially joyous as the Mercury 7 days and the Shuttle era came together in one astounding space ride.

The space community is proud and strong--but right now worried about its future as the shuttle program winds down and the NASA budget keeps shrinking. And the space community, which  historically includes major corporations such as Lockheed, Boeing, USA,(shout-out to the old  McDonnell-Douglas gang & McD's accomplishments), and many others, knows how to stand up and fight for itself politically.

There were outcries when Obama previously vowed to slash the space budget by about one-third. Now, frantically digging a new flame trench, Obama launched himself onto a platform with party loyalist Nelson. Obama's new trajectory calls for one more shuttle flight after the planned final mission, and a "new vision."

Hitting all the high points of the space program buzzwords, Obama issued a somewhat mystifying pledge in Titusville. "I'm going to re-establish the national aeronautics and space council so we can develop a plan to explore the solar system, a plan that involves both human and robotic missions, enlist both international partenrs and the private sector."

Re-invent NACA, Senator? The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was NASA's ancestor, and morphed into NASA in 1958.  Develop plans for exploration, international partners, private sector, and robotic missions?

Senator, the offices of NASA and Congress could be shored up in an earthquake simply by piling up the accumulated tonnage  of plans for space. Take note: the U.S. space program already has international partners (look up at the International Space Station for a start), private sector involvement (examine the relationship with contractors and spinoff technology), and as for robots, have you heard yet about say, the Mars Phoenix Lander?

Obama's remarks sounded, frankly, like a guy grasping at straws to launch bottle rockets to compete with the Apollo era Saturn rocket, the largest, most powerful space vehicle ever launched.   Lightweight and superficial, Obama's rocket reversal on space mirrored yet another sudden change in plans for U.S. policy.

While in Florida, Obama drifted into the camp of  "exploring" off-shore oil drilling. Like space, Obama's prior stance on off-shore drilling was 180 degrees opposite his rhetoric under the Florida sun.