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Obama space goodbye mocks JFK's hello

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Obama space goodbye mocks JFK's hello Empty Obama space goodbye mocks JFK's hello

Post by TexasBlue Fri Apr 29, 2011 8:09 pm

Obama space goodbye mocks JFK's hello

Al Neuharth
USA TODAY
April 29, 2011


President Obama plans to attend the next-to-the-last space shuttle launch scheduled today. Ironically, he's saying goodbye to our space program at the Kennedy Space Center, named after the president who said hello to space.

The decision to phase out the shuttle program was made by President George W. Bush. But Obama has made no concrete future space plans of any kind.

Like Bush, Obama is making a mockery of something that excited and united us in the 1960s and for decades to follow. Included were six manned moon landings.

We were scared into our space program when Russia (then the USSR) launched the Sputnik satellite in 1957. As we watched it orbit the Earth for 92 days and nights, we wondered what might happen if any unfriendly nation decided to use space for military purposes.

After Sputnik, President John F. Kennedy concluded that no nation can be No. 1 on Earth unless it also is No. 1 in space.

Russia now clearly is the space leader. We're a distant second. China, which has announced plans for a village on the moon, could soon be No. 2.

Obama says continuing the space program costs too much. Here's how the price of our space adventures compares with the misadventures in our 2011 budget:

•Space, $19 billion.

•Wars, $159 billion.

Ironically, when Obama was in the U.S. Senate he opposed Bush's nation-building war in Iraq. Now he has tripled down the troops and ballooned the bucks in a similar effort in Afghanistan, while slicing space funding and other important things at home.

Daughters Malia, 12, and Sasha, 9, are scheduled to be with Obama at today's shuttle launch. Maybe they'll explain the history of space and wars to their dad.

Feedback: Other views on Obama and space

"The president's commitment to the future of human space exploration is unwavering, and it has strong bipartisan congressional support — proof that America is positioned to win the future."

— Charles Bolden, NASA administrator

"To conquer new frontiers is the most deeply rooted American value. The frontier of our time lies in space. An American president should understand that."

— Michael Griffin, NASA administrator during the Bush administration
TexasBlue
TexasBlue

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