The voyage continues - And so does the Moon-Mars debate

Washington Times ^ | February 4, 2003 | staff

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Floral bouquets and mementos are continuing to be placed at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and the National Air and Space Museum in Washington as mourning for the seven astronauts who died in the Columbia disaster continues. It's appropriate that time be taken to mourn, and also to thoroughly examine what went wrong. Those flaws must be found and corrected. However, that mourning and those investigations must not keep NASA from fulfilling its primary mission of space exploration. In his Saturday address announcing the loss of the Columbia and its crew, President Bush said, "The cause in which they died will continue . . . Our journey into space will go on."

[Cincinatus' Wife]

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[Cincinatus' Wife]

Next, Go Back to the Moon*** For the past 30 years, NASA has maintained an Apollo-type management style but without a long-term space goal. Bureaucratic survival struggles have raged. Scientific and engineering talent has drifted away through attrition and retirement, while innovative ideas and clever plans have been lost or buried. What's the alternative to NASA's demise? We must return people to the moon. A lunar return is achievable within five years, at a cost an order of magnitude lower than that of a manned Mars mission.***

[Congressman Billybob]

I discuss the same subject in my latest column on UPI, but with a greater sense of both human history and human psychology. Click the first link below. This was written and submitted on Saturday, but is not yet on the wire.

The title, "Those in Peril on the Sea," is taken, of course, from the Navy Hymn.

Congressman Billybob

Click for latest column for UPI, "Those in Peril on the Sea" (Not yet on UPI wire, or FR.)

As the politician formerly known as Al Gore has said, Buy my book, "to Restore Trust in America"

[hedgetrimmer]

Changing Mars into a planet with lush forests, varied plant and animal life, and a thick Nitrogen-Oxygen atmosphere is the dream, and goal, of many scientists. First proposed some 30 years ago, this dream, dubbed “terraforming,” has gained momentum in the scientific world and is now considered possible.
Jim Keener's Method for Terraforming Mars

[vannrox]

[eclectic]

Why debate? Do both Moon AND Mars using shared technology. I guess the real debate is whether NASA can be trusted with such missions. I seriously doubt it. The way to go is to establish an alternative Space Exploration Agency, funded primarily by tax exempt public donations

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I hear the call CB. Very inspiring - and so true. Thanks.