After observing the events of the last two months and talking with some people, it’s become clear that the new space initiative announced in January is missing one critical thing: a name. If you go to NASA’s web site you’ll find that the section associated with the exploration program is titled “NASA’s Future: Exploration and Discovery”. You’ll also see phrases like “To Worlds Beyond” and “The Vision for Space Exploration”. When President Bush unveiled the plan, it was titled “A Renewed Spirit of Discovery“: that’s not a name, that’s an attribute of the effort. As you can see, there’s no official title for this exploration program, unlike past proposals like the Space Exploration Initiative.
Why is a name important? At the Goddard Memorial Symposium this week, a number of speakers pointed out that this needs to be a national exploration initiative if it is to survive the inevitable political changes throughout its planned life. Yet, lacking a name, the program is often called the Bush space initiative (or plan, or agenda, or whatever.) That could pose problems for the program in 2005 or 2009 when a new president takes office, or potentially in between should the Democrats regain control of one or both houses of Congress. It also gives the appearance that the plan is fairly amorphous and undefined, which could be a near-term obstacle.
Having a catchy, politically-neutral name won’t alone solve those political problems, but it could help, in a small way, make the plan more palatable. I don’t have a good suggestion for what that name should be, but perhaps you do…
“Return to Space”
Short, easy to remember. A program name _and_ a goal.
How about “The Destiny Program”
The Aldridge commission has the title “Moon, Mars, and Beyond” – I kind of like that name.
Any thoughts on the idea of a permanent board, somewhat like the commission itself, responsible for a regular review, prioritization, and scheduling of the steps in our expansion into space, and providing general advice to congress and the White House on space plans?
It seems a lot of the focus of people making suggestions so far is on specific projects that should be high on the priority list – but not on a mechanism to actually continually gather that information and make those decisions in the future.
“The Exploration Initiative” works just fine, and it’s short enough to use in a non-cumbersome way.
Reading Buck’s post, I am tempted to call it Project Manifest Destiny, just to tweek the politically correct.
Post-Columbia Space Exploration Policy
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“For Post-Columbia NASA, White House Leadership Needed, Observers Say”
http://www.space.com/news/nasa_next_030825.html
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“Official Designation:
President’s Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy”
http://www.moontomars.org/about/charter.asp
I would like to see it named Phxrizn “1”
Respectfully,
JourneyPS@aol.com
The “What Space Is For” Plan.
How about “Bring it On.” Everyone else is using it, and it’s the President’s own deeply profound quote.
According to NASA Watch (May 12, 2004)
http://www.nasawatch.com/
The official name is “The Vision for Space Exploration”.
V, S and E get capitalized.