If you've read any of my previous diary entries, or any of the messages I've posted on the subject of the Moon, you'll know that I'm a heavy-duty fan of the idea of returning to that high water mark of human exploration. I view human settlement of the Moon as an essential step to our real progress -- and I don't mean progress in the same way as those who gleefully measure it in the number of acres of wetlands destroyed. I mean as in the developing speech, art, and chocolate stages of progress.
Months before Bush made his Moon/Mars speech, I was advocating that a Democrat come out and fight for this issue. Kennedy made the space program work as a national unifying force, a higher purpose, and as a jobs program. Don't ever forget that third part. It was far from accidental that NASA boosted the employment of engineers and scientists, as well as driving up educational demand in these areas.
Let's not rehash the "nothing but Teflon and Tang" argument again. You'd not be blogging here today were it not for the space program. No way, no how.
Okay, so I'm a space "nut." Half of you have probably written me off by now. For those still reading, I offer up this piece of painfully disturbing information on Bush's intentions in the heavens.
It now appears that Bush has few real thoughts of going to the Moon, or to Mars (some may argue that Bush as few real thoughts, but that's another topic). His real intent is to gut NASA and turn it into another funding source for defense contractors. It just so happens that everything he's having NASA do to "get ready for Mars" coincides with what his plan on Star Wars weaponry would required. Gee, how convenient.
If there is any redeeming value in his scheme, it's the possible race for Helium-3 on the Moon. Otherwise, it appears that Bush is just as cynical about space as anything else. Once again, it's all part of his grand "Say One Thing While Doing The Opposite Thing" program. The end result will probably be a gutted, crippled NASA, more bloat for the military budget, and man-in-space program that's projected as "defense."
Worse still? Space is nigh-on useless as far as defense goes. The Moon even more so. So while giving us platitudes and paying for guns, Bush will actually deliver nothing at all.