Why do we need the space program?
Whenever I think of the space program, I can’t help but think America needs to stop being so smug and try something new. Think about it. What does the space program represent? Well, let’s look at the main purpose for its initial growth.
Remember studying history in high school and this unfriendly little era called the Cold War? There were two main world powers that kept butting heads: the United States and the U.S.S.R. Well, the Russians were clever enough to put the first man in space, and the United States was a little irate because it did not come in first in that event. In retaliation, President John F. Kennedy announced the United States would put a man on the surface of the moon by the end of the decade; this was in the 1960s. And thus the space race began.
It was a race to see who would win, and you know what? We won. Game over. We beat the then-bad-guy Communist world power Russia more than 40 years ago. Has it really been necessary to continue to rub this triumph in their poor, oppressed, starving faces?
One of the biggest, and might I add pointless, projects NASA is currently working on is the space station. Initially, the space station was scheduled to be finished by 1994 with a price tag of $8 billion. Now, construction of the space station won’t be done before 2004, and the price tag is more than six times the initial cost. The International Space Station will take more than 40 American shuttle flights and Russian launches before it’s complete, costing NASA a sum of $54 billion.
Even the plan to bring the Russians aboard five years ago to save U.S. taxpayers money has backfired. NASA has already sent Russia $750 million, and has promised $660 million more just to keep them in the program.
Look – Russia has enough problems, especially financial ones. The last thing they need to be doing is borrowing money from us to literally burn up as they send rockets into space to help work on this station. And I’m sure if a homeless person in America or Russian citizens knew how much money is being spent on gas to get workers to the construction site of a big metal house being built in space, they would be climbing the nearest bell tower with long-range sling shots only because they couldn’t afford a gun. OK, so that may be a little strong. But I’ll bet you’d hear a loud and lengthy barrage of colorful metaphors being angrily spat out of their food-deprived mouths.
In 2000, NASA had an annual budget of more than $14 billion. And I think having a new president who, I imagine, has fantasies about his wife in a white dress with two Danishes strapped to the sides of her head, will do something to increase the annual budget of the space program. This will result, once again, in having to clarify which “Stars Wars” program we are referring to.
NASA’s budget needs to go down even more. The money should go to the medical world, to help find a cure for cancer, AIDS and other life-depleting diseases. Give some of the money to public schools and get these kids recent textbooks so they know the Cold War is actually over.
Look, I’m not saying that we should get rid of the space program forever, but at least for the time being. I imagine that at some point in the progression and expansion of the human species space exploration will be necessary, but right now let’s stick to home and learn how to live with each other and this planet, instead of destroying it and then going to look for a new one to suck dry.
Rich Timothy is a senior in technical writing. Comments may be e-mailed to rtimothy1@hotmail.com.