Amanda Meyer is a nice young lady, and as well meaning as she is, she's a third party in this. |
As a person excited by the prospect of returning to the Moon, I am thrilled that the United States is finally intent on moving beyond Earth orbit, ... Like everyone, I am curious to see how this plays out over the next few months as project definition becomes more solid. The devil will be in the details. |
At a fundamental level, political will is the most critical challenge facing those who wish to venture into space in this century. It is even more significant than the technological issues that also present serious challenges to returning to the Moon, |
Challenger showed how sophisticated this technology was and how fragile it was, and our dreams were tied to it. |
I wish them well. I hope it opens up this capability to the public. I wish it were more revolutionary. |
If science is the driver, what scientific activities are going to dominate? Decisions on this will affect the structure of the science effort as a whole, the landing site selection, the nature of robotic predecessors, the types of experiments developed, and a host of other issues that require sustained thought and planning. |
Now we're starting to enter into a new phase, which may be characterized as private-sector or space tourism. |
Our position would be that it is, and always has been, government property. |
She was only going to fly once in her life. The thing that NASA learned most fundamentally from that is we really need to have individuals on board who have accepted the risk associated with space fright and are willing to make that a career. |
The Apollo program was about flags and footprints, and it was effective in helping to win the Cold War with the Soviet Union. The Apollo leadership also managed to tack on some science activities, but they were definitely afterthoughts. But those times have passed, and we must move beyond the Apollo concept to embrace a more engaging and sustained approach. I hope this program is successful in doing this. I will be properly ecstatic if program officials are successful in doing so. |
This architecture for reaching the Moon is certainly one that makes possible a return, but it is also one among several approaches that could have been successful, |
Without that political will, discovery and exploration cannot take place at an aggressive rate. |