In an interview with Orlando television station WKMG, Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden touched upon space policy during a discussion of what changing factors had caused support for the Obama-Biden ticket to increase in Florida recently, as measured in some polls:
“Well, I think there are a number of things,” Biden said. “One, you have more home foreclosures in one month than any place in the United States of America — more than 44,000 to 45,000 home foreclosures. Number two, look what John wants to do with the space program. He wants to essentially put it on ice. I think it is clear, Florida is hurting.”
Doubtless McCain supporters will take issue with that assessment of their candidate’s space policy. However, this is part of a trend by Democrats to portray McCain as someone who would fail to support NASA, primarily by pointing out McCain’s pledge for a one-year freeze on all but unspecified “vital” programs. And while McCain supporters can point to previous statements by McCain that indicated he would provide additional funding for NASA, their work would be a lot easier if the candidate himself spoke out directly on the subject, particularly in light of the changes in the national economic situation in the last couple months.
It’s obvious both presidential candidates will have to support a national space program that’s a given. To what extent is the issue.
Given the interest in future Russian space program use. And the continued success of the Chinese national space effort. The only question I have is can Americans spell “Sputnik” presently ?
Because the ‘Sputnik factor’ will begin to play heavily on the American psyche as we move forward-no, not worried about a faltering U.S. space effort.
The sputnik factor will not play as heavily as many assume. In 1957 being anything but the first or best in almost any field was foreign to most Americans. Sputnik was a real shock. In 2008, Americans are a bit more pessimistic about things. The outcry over being second or even third in space will be muted.
More “pessimistic” — or simply more realistic? Maybe Americans have come to understand, slowly and subliminally, that
1) there really isn’t much of a linkage between the military uses of space that do matter (surveillance, comms, GPS) and manned spaceflight
2) having the #1 manned spaceflight program is really a pretty small part of our national prestige, reputation or whatever you want to call it. In fact, it was pretty small forty years ago: Apollo and (for a little while) STS made us feel good about ourselves, but I’ve never seen any evidence that it impressed the former North Viet Nam, or OPEC, or non-aligned nations deciding where to place their bets, above and beyond other US capabilities and achievements.
For people who think they’re all about the future, space fans are deeply invested in attitudes that had their day in 1957-1967, faded rather quickly after that, and show no signs at all of revival outside the space-fan bubble.
when the moon was taken off the table for private ownership, space became a moot point. If the new world would have been placed off limits and all you could do was cross the ocean and paint scenic pictures and grab a few rocks and then had to sail home and were left with just stories to tell the crowds, “here is a painting of what I saw, here is a rock a found on the beach” you would have seen what you see today with space travel.
There was absolutely NO INCENTIVE for ANY country smaller then the USA to compete in space, the UN treaty GUARANTEED they NEVER had to start spending on science education and start a space program NOW! Because the treaty effectively barred the US from exploiting their advantage of being first. For a supposed capitalist country that rewards any other inovator for being first, there was no reward for being first to the moon because no one got to own anything when they got there.
Monte and Vladislaw: You both have good points, and I think you point to something that the space community does not want to recognize. Space is just not that important. IMHO, it will require dramatic advancements in technology, at least to a point where going into orbit is as easy as sailing between Europe and America. Without that, it’s best to concentrate on improving scientific understanding of the cosmos.