Per Ardua Ad Astra

It's the Earth, Stupid: "NASA's new budget blows it."

I just read this article on Slate regarding the proposed NASA budget. I've always been very interested in manned spaceflight - Jane and I followed the X-Prize competition very closely. I still believe in the ideals of the early days of space exploration, the idea that our next step is out there, and that we should go to Mars for the same reason we climb Everest or descend to the bottom of the Marianas Trench. I also buy into the argument that we should colonize Mars someday (the far future, most likely) because it doesn't seem prudent to have all our eggs in one basket, planetarily speaking.

Having said that, Easterbrook makes some excellent arguments about prioritization. I am especially persuaded by what he has to say about the International Space Station and the Shuttle - at this point there is little use for either of them. I can't help but wonder what could be accomplished with the billions of dollars spent on shuttle launches if it was wedded to innovative design-and-build efforts like SpaceShip One.

Filed in: Science