Barack Obama And The Space Program: New Direction!

President Obama outlined a new vision on space travel at the Cape Canaveral base of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in central Florida on Thursday.

His plan is to develop a new space vehicle and a heavy lift booster to carry it beyond earth; to have a manned mission to an asteroid within fifteen years; and to use this as a stepping stone to the moons of Mars, and then reach Mars itself by 2040.

Obama sees this as a new mission, rather than following those who say we should go back to the moon. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin agrees with him, while interestingly, Neil Armstrong, Jim Lovell and Gene Cernan are critical of Obama’s abandonment of the space shuttle program, and his plan to promote privatization efforts and to count on the Russians and others for travel to the space station.

While there may be a short term loss of jobs at the Cape, it seems that Obama’s vision will, hopefully, be seen over time in the same light as John F. Kennedy’s vision of landing on the moon by the end of the 1960s. The one major issue now, above all, will be finding the necessary funding to accomplish this space goals that looks so promising and doable over time, with patience!