The Space Program and NASA

NASA and space exploration are important to Florida's economy. What priorities should Congress set regarding exploration, and what should be the next goal? So little in the way of what could have been accomplished in my lifetime so far has actually taken place. As a young boy I marveled at the early achievements of the space program. I stood on A1A and watched John Glenn drive by in his triumphant motorcade. My father used to be gone for days at a time as an employee of Lockheed when a launch was planned. As an elementary school boy the class would go outside to watch a launch from Satellite Beach.

As a boy I witnessed some of the history that was depicted in the movie, "The Right Stuff" while my father lived it! Following the Apollo missions, it was predicted that man would set foot on Mars by 1987. Here we are in 2012 with the rover "Curiosity" paving the way. The annual budget for NASA often was equaled by one month's budget for Iraq/Afghanistan. This is a fine example of skewed priorities.

At one point NASA was reported to have returned $8.00 for every dollar invested in new technologies and products. It is a given that America wants to "lead the world" in virtually everything. Then as the most visible and certainly the area of investigation with the most potential for return on investment, America must dream big and invest big in space exploration and NASA.

Commercial enterprise will play an increasing role as we witness the increasing success already apparent. While placing a man on Mars must be a goal as we stretch our earthly boundaries, placing an unmanned vehicle on Jupiter's moon Europa, where water is thought to exist is another goal.
The search for extraterrestrial life is moving ahead with more earth like planets discovered on an increasingly routine basis. All of these programs must be well funded, not just because it is the role of man to explore as a species, rather because the drive to accumulate knowledge should be insatiable and not constrained by shoestring budgets.

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