Why the Moon, Mars and Beyond? It is a Matter of Surviving - Part I
September 28, 2009
by DC Lee - A Woodward Report Columnist
from http://www.thewoodwardreport.com/
In May, President Obama set up a panel to study and propose the how, when and if for future US space flight efforts. Considering Obama’s current shilly-shallying on his Afghan War policy, we should worry whether any American space program will be left when he finally makes up his mind.
Since NASA was formed by politics instead of pure scientific need due to Sputnik's launch by the USSR in 1957, one would not be surprised at its sinister, shaky hand at the throttle and purse strings.
However, John Kennedy was most eloquent and gallant when he defined why we would go to the moon: "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win..."
That speech at Houston's Rice Stadium on September 12, 1962, sticks in my mind because I was there, a ninth grader from Jane Long Junior High. Electricity was in the air as everyone in the country felt we not only could, but we would go to the moon and beyond. It was only a matter of time.
Yet after we got to the moon, old habits returned. Politics canceled the Apollo 18, 19 and 20 manned missions to the Moon and shaped the program we have today. What we should do in our space program is for another column to follow on another day.
We can all agree that politics changed our space effort through the past fifty some odd years with each new President and it continues to this day.
Some call for entirely doing away with the space program, asserting that the money could be better spent elsewhere. They add it is not safe: "People die!"
Yet this is the same crowd that also figures 'any' money spent on defense is the same stupid waste and who also consider killing the unborn via abortion a civil right. Since the majority of these minions reside in the liberal engine that runs Obama's agenda, the very existence of our space program is indeed in grave danger.
Consider this, going into space is not only a worthy enterprise, it is a necessary effort if the Human Race is to survive.
Only in the past few decades have scientists come to understand the part space travel has played in Earth's history and make up. The space travel of a six mile wide asteroid ended the dinosaurs reign 65 million years ago. The 1994 Shoemaker-Levy 9 Comet fragments collision with Jupiter finally proved that things traveling in space find places to land, and they land with devastating effect.
It is not "if" an asteroid or comet will impact our planet causing an apocalypse for every man, woman and child, it is "when!"
While those wholly backing the Global Warming Hoax running to and fro shouting "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" with glee, they should understand it truly is! And you cannot buy Al Gore's bogus carbon credits as insurance for such a humanity ending impact catastrophe.
That is the reason why we should move forward with returning to the moon as well as venturing onward to Mars. We should actively begin colonizing both as an outpost of mankind, outposts for our eventual journey out into our part of the Milky Way and beyond.
It is looking more and more likely that water, in the form of super cold ice, will be found in some of the always dark craters on the moon's poles. Evidence of water on Mars is also very compelling. This will be most helpful as not only is water good for drinking and washing, but split into oxygen and hydrogen, it serves as a most efficient fuel for rockets.
Mars is our nearest neighbor that we can actually change with our current and near future technology. We can reform Mars into a world very similar to Earth. It would take perhaps one or two centuries, but the time span for the United States going from hand-to-mouth colonies to sea-to-sea economic power took much longer.
No, it will not be cheap nor without loss of life, but considering the alternative, it is something we must do for the survival of our species. Man's future is out among the stars, not here on Earth. If he stays here, it will be a dead end as final as the fate of the T-Rex, Dodo or Passenger Pigeon.
The only difference is unlike the aforementioned, we have a choice in the matter.
Looking forward to your comments and criticisms,
Danny
September 28, 2009
by DC Lee - A Woodward Report Columnist
from http://www.thewoodwardreport.com/
In May, President Obama set up a panel to study and propose the how, when and if for future US space flight efforts. Considering Obama’s current shilly-shallying on his Afghan War policy, we should worry whether any American space program will be left when he finally makes up his mind.
Since NASA was formed by politics instead of pure scientific need due to Sputnik's launch by the USSR in 1957, one would not be surprised at its sinister, shaky hand at the throttle and purse strings.
However, John Kennedy was most eloquent and gallant when he defined why we would go to the moon: "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win..."
That speech at Houston's Rice Stadium on September 12, 1962, sticks in my mind because I was there, a ninth grader from Jane Long Junior High. Electricity was in the air as everyone in the country felt we not only could, but we would go to the moon and beyond. It was only a matter of time.
Yet after we got to the moon, old habits returned. Politics canceled the Apollo 18, 19 and 20 manned missions to the Moon and shaped the program we have today. What we should do in our space program is for another column to follow on another day.
We can all agree that politics changed our space effort through the past fifty some odd years with each new President and it continues to this day.
Some call for entirely doing away with the space program, asserting that the money could be better spent elsewhere. They add it is not safe: "People die!"
Yet this is the same crowd that also figures 'any' money spent on defense is the same stupid waste and who also consider killing the unborn via abortion a civil right. Since the majority of these minions reside in the liberal engine that runs Obama's agenda, the very existence of our space program is indeed in grave danger.
Consider this, going into space is not only a worthy enterprise, it is a necessary effort if the Human Race is to survive.
Only in the past few decades have scientists come to understand the part space travel has played in Earth's history and make up. The space travel of a six mile wide asteroid ended the dinosaurs reign 65 million years ago. The 1994 Shoemaker-Levy 9 Comet fragments collision with Jupiter finally proved that things traveling in space find places to land, and they land with devastating effect.
It is not "if" an asteroid or comet will impact our planet causing an apocalypse for every man, woman and child, it is "when!"
While those wholly backing the Global Warming Hoax running to and fro shouting "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" with glee, they should understand it truly is! And you cannot buy Al Gore's bogus carbon credits as insurance for such a humanity ending impact catastrophe.
That is the reason why we should move forward with returning to the moon as well as venturing onward to Mars. We should actively begin colonizing both as an outpost of mankind, outposts for our eventual journey out into our part of the Milky Way and beyond.
It is looking more and more likely that water, in the form of super cold ice, will be found in some of the always dark craters on the moon's poles. Evidence of water on Mars is also very compelling. This will be most helpful as not only is water good for drinking and washing, but split into oxygen and hydrogen, it serves as a most efficient fuel for rockets.
Mars is our nearest neighbor that we can actually change with our current and near future technology. We can reform Mars into a world very similar to Earth. It would take perhaps one or two centuries, but the time span for the United States going from hand-to-mouth colonies to sea-to-sea economic power took much longer.
No, it will not be cheap nor without loss of life, but considering the alternative, it is something we must do for the survival of our species. Man's future is out among the stars, not here on Earth. If he stays here, it will be a dead end as final as the fate of the T-Rex, Dodo or Passenger Pigeon.
The only difference is unlike the aforementioned, we have a choice in the matter.
Looking forward to your comments and criticisms,
Danny
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