NASA's funding issues - a problem with public education?

November 8, 6:40 PMTampa Space Program News ExaminerJason Rhian

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Man on the moon - but can you name which one of the twelve this is? If not blame your school!
Image Credit: NASA

Recently, the B. Bernice Young school in New Jersey has come under fire for teaching students a song praising President Obama.  Colleges are now offering classes on Harry Potter, Star Trek and other topics.  Meanwhile, America's space program is under funded and by all accounts - under fire. 

The Apollo program taught us how our nearest neighbor, the moon, was formed.  It showed American innovation at its finest.  Yet ask most kids who was the first man to walk on the moon and their answer is more likely than not to be Lance Armstrong.  For those of you not aware, Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon.  Lance Armstrong is the famed bicyclist.  Most of those same students also think we only landed on the moon once.  The fact is that America landed six manned missions on the moon.  Apollos 11,12 and 14-17.  Apollo 13, as any Tom Hanks fan can tell you had a malfunction and did not land on the moon.

So if one of the greatest achievements in human history is so poorly taught - then what about the shuttle missions?  The space shuttle, despite its longevity, is by-and-large ignored by the public.  The constant round and round of endless loops in low-earth-orbit has taken its toll on the fickle average American's attention span.  If you don't think so, try answering questions from the list below - the answers are at the bottom of the page.

1. What was Challenger's primary mission objective on STS-51L?
2. Excluding the Teacher in Space initiative, what was one of Challenger's secondary missions?
3. What experiments were conducted on Columbia's last flight, STS-107?
4. Except for Christa McAuliffe, name any of the astronauts who lost their lives on Challenger or Columbia.

In so many ways, America's future resides in space.  As children are the future of our country, we owe it to them to not waste their formative years learning about how Hogwarts prevents Muggles from learning about the wizarding world or why the Klingons started a war to wipe out the Tribbles.  They need to know technical skills, engineering, mathematics and the impact of America's technical achievements on global history.  Public schools and even colleges and universities fail when it comes to relaying the importance of spaceflight to students.  NASA and its various centers have immensely expanded America's and the world's knowledge of the cosmos.  Moreover, the technical advancements that have come from the space program has place the U.S. among the most advanced nations in the world.  To maintain the lead that our nation currently enjoys requires engineers, scientists and technicians.  These fields cannot be filled by getting an education in American cinema.

Answers:

1. To deploy the TDRS-B satellite.
2. To examine Halley's Comet.
3. Where to start!  STS-107 had experiments that examined was to improve spaceflight, fire suppression, examined dust from the Middle-East's impact on weather, ways to increase crop production and experiments to find cures for numerous cancers.
4. STS-51L - Commander Francis Scobee, Michael Smith, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe.  STS-107 - Rick Husband, Willie McCool, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown, Michael Anderson, Laurel Clark and Ilan Ramon.