Destination Moon

Standby 

I've always been a fan of the NASA space program, and watched with fascination each time some new feat was accomplished back in the 1960's and 70's. Men went to the moon several times, although the major accomplishments were not much more than to plant U.S. flags in the lunar soil and bring back moon rocks. Seems like the main incentive was to show the USSR that America was first in technology; after the mid-70's detente, and then the fall of the Berlin wall, that motivation faded away.

When the Space Shuttle began flying in the early 80's, I hoped it was the next phase of serious space advancement. But I was wrong -- it started a period of stasis, timid space experiments, commercial-oriented satellite launches, and severe budgetary restraints. The Challenger disaster of 1986, and more recent Columbia disaster did nothing to engender most peoples' desire to expand our presence in space. One must admit that there is huge expense, for doing something with little obvious payback. Money spent on NASA could go to social programs and things of a more immediate, practical nature. But the dreamer in me says that space is our destiny. A permanent lunar space station would be a great beginning. Here are some ideas/observations:

o Have private industry foot more of the bill. Private industry has much to gain from experiments and observations in the space realm.

o Have some of the efforts expensed as multinational efforts, not breaking the budgetary back of any one country. China, Russia, European Union and the U.S. could work together on an enterprise of such magnitude as a lunar colony.

o Reserve manned missions for transport of humans only. Robotic, unmanned flights could shuttle much equipment and supplies back and forth, without the expensive overhead of systems that support human passengers.

o Last, and I fear this is the deal breaker: For large scale space colonization, men would need to rearrange priorities so that the betterment of mankind is as important as the assertion of individual egos. Men need to quit killing each other over issues of money, religion and territoriality. Most high-tech budgets throughout the world today are directed towards defense and anti-terrorism. What should be rockets pointed to the moon are ICBM's pointed to a neighbor. Also, a balance should be struck between an acceptable level of personal material well-being and a future-oriented society that puts stock in man's space technology future. With half the world starving, our work is cut out for us. A multinational task force to conquer space would really need to first address overpopulation and starvation.

A couple of years ago, President George W. Bush proposed a more expedited, manned mission to Mars, perhaps in the next decade. It was seen by some as more of a political device than an earnest drive to rediscover the space frontier. I don't know what Bush's motivation was; let's just hope that somewhere in the future of the people on our "blue marble" planet, there is a red planet Mars.