Another Cost Of War

Commentary By Ron Beasley

I am old enough to remember the thrill of the moon landings and the national pride that followed.  There was little doubt that The United States was the worlds technology leader.  Thanks to foolish wars and tax cuts for the wealthiest one percent the mantle of technology leader is moving off shore along with the manufacturing jobs.

U.S. losing its lead in space, experts warn Congress

America's once clear dominance in space is eroding as other nations, including China, Iran and North Korea, step up their activities, a panel of experts told the House subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics Thursday.

"Others are catching up fast,'' said Marty Hauser, vice president for Washington operations at the Space Foundation, an advocacy organization headquarters in Colorado Springs. "Of particular note over the past decade is the emergence of China's human spaceflight capabilities.''

Russia now leads the world in space launches. China recently became the third nation, after the United States and Russia, to send its own astronauts out for a spacewalk.

"China is laying the groundwork for a long-term space program with or without us,'' said Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University in Washington. "We should worry if we're not out there with them.''

China's rocket launch facilities are "state of the art,'' Hauser said.

Instead of technology the US is now the country of anti-science bible thumpers,  greedy Wall Street gamblers and chicken hawks who have never seen a war they didn't like. A country of ignorant bullies.  This is the way empires die.

Comments

[Curmudgeon]

This is nothing to worry about. Human spaceflight is just another 'circus' of the 'bread & circuses to distract the masses' category. It serves no scientific or technological purpose. As human spaceflight no longer attracts the attention of the American public, the continuation of the American human spaceflight program is nothing more than yet another form of corporate welfare for red states.

[Jonathan Goff]

Ron,
As someone involved in the space industry (my company just won $1.15M from NASA for our performance in a prize they sponsored), I think a big part of the problem is that NASA is seen by Congress more as a jobs program than a space program. In the end, we'll only maintain a lead in space as we continue to build competitive markets that actually provide direct benefit to people. NASA could be more relevant to that process, but right now they're hamstrung by people like Senator Shelby (R-AL) who seem to think that NASA == Northern Alabama Space Administration.

That said, I'm not too worried about other government space programs. They're just as anachronistic, command and control style as NASA and the old Soviet program was. I'd only really start being worried about losing our lead if one of those countries decided to try and promote a real vibrant commercial space industry, instead of trying to have yet another retread of NASA's glory years...

~Jon