Not because it is easy

(Launchspace Staff)

"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.  

It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency."

-          President John F. Kennedy, September 12, 1962

And here we are, a half-century later, NASA has evolved into a mature government bureaucracy. Jobs are protected. Exciting human space programs have disappeared. Funding allocations are politically based. There have been no motivational speeches from NASA leadership in a long time and non are expected any time soon. The reins of space innovation have been ceded to other countries. NASA has transferred many of its leading-edge technology responsibilities to the private sector.  

The simple fact is that space applications have not yet achieved true commercial self sustainment, except in the area of satellite communications. Every other space application still depends on the government customer. Thus, it is the government that dictates most space activities. Today, the government space vision is blurred and the ship's rudder is broken.  

Human space flight is a motivator, an exciter, for many national activities including increasing the interest in science and technology careers. America needs creators and producers to maintain world leadership. In summary, the country is going backwards.