Anyone in charge

(Launchspace Staff)

"I'm fed up and I'm not going to take it anymore." Many of us feel this way, but Governor Rick Perry of Texas was a lot more diplomatic in his statement issued with the final landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis. He said:

"Forty-two years ago yesterday, America captured the world's imagination by putting a man on the moon, highlighting an era of excellence in space exploration. Unfortunately, with the final landing of the Shuttle Atlantis and no indication of plans for future missions, this administration has set a significantly different milestone by shutting down our nation's legacy of leadership in human spaceflight and exploration, leaving American astronauts with no alternative but to hitchhike into space."

He went on to say:

"The Obama Administration continues to lead federal agencies and programs astray, this time forcing NASA away from its original purpose of space exploration, and ignoring its groundbreaking past and enormous future potential. It is time to restore NASA to its core purpose of manned space exploration, and to define our vision for 21st Century space exploration, not in terms of what we cannot do, but instead in terms of what we will do."

While it is true that Texas is the home of the Johnson Space Center (JSC), originally called the Manned Spacecraft Center, Mr. Perry speaks for many space professionals in all 50 states. We see the challenge of human space exploration, not simply as an engineering feat, but as a huge motivating factor in exciting our young people so they will continue the legacy of U.S. leadership in technology, exploration and international prestige. Until recently, when the world wanted high technology leadership, it came to America, not to Europe, not to China, and not to Russia. All that is changing, and Governor Perry's statement has given us the reason.

Thank you Gov. Perry.