US Space Program

It's been almost a year since the last shuttle mission.  I've spent a lot of time (time which probably is normally better spent grading or lesson planning...) thinking about the American space program, reasons for its being there, reasons for it not to be there, etc.  Although NASA represents a very small percentage of the federal budget, and has for a majority of the organization's lifetime, the question remains: is space exploration and research a worthwhile use of our money?

In preparation for November's election, I've been trying to figure out, exactly, what my political stance is.  Take the budget for example.  It's easy to say "we need to raise taxes and cut spending in order to reduce the deficit."  However, it's much harder to try and figure out where to cut that spending.  The government provides many services for the people; where do I draw the line to start classifying projects as unnecessary spending?

For example, I think Planned Parenthood is a wonderful program.  It provides safe, easy, and affordable medical services, and contrary to popular Republican belief, does much much more than birth control and abortions.  Could we, as a society, afford to cut it?  Probably.  It's not, strictly speaking, necessary for our lives.  Just the same, I think I'd like to keep it around.

Let's look back at NASA.  They've made some incredible inventions, innovations, and brought technology leaps and bounds within the course of about 60 years.  They are responsible for inspiring and realizing the genre of science fiction.  In turn, the scientists took the best tech that came from sci fi and turned it into reality.  NASA has improved our understanding of the universe and took some of the first steps to exploring that universe.  And yet, somehow I have a sinking feeling that their well has run dry; that space has nothing left to offer.  I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but with this feeling I find it hard to justify spending federal tax dollars to fund NASA.

I think what I need is a set of rules for what the government should spend its money on.  Now, the Constitution has very specific things that it says the federal government is responsible for.  While that will drastically reduce spending, it will also entirely cut out funding for things like Planned Parenthood, NASA, the NSF, and public education, just to name a few.  And I like those things.  They're badass.

I'll leave you with what I think is one of the most powerful clips NASA has made.  It's a view of the Tail Service Masts at the base of a Saturn V rocket.  Try to keep in mind the scale; I could easily drive a truck into one of the five F-1 engines at the base of the rocket.  Each of the TSMs is about 9.5 meters high, and the Saturn V experiences an initial acceleration of about 12 meters per second per second.  Look at how fast the mechanism works to get the TSM clear of the vehicle and safe from the engine exhaust.  It's incredible how many little details there were to get 12 men on the moon.

Anyway.