[Sky & Telescope magazine in March 2009] Sky & Telescope... -Humans to the Moon
President Bush delivered his well-publicized speech outlining a vision for future human exploration of the solar system. He described how NASA would return people to the Moon and set up a permanently occupied outpost. Later crewed missions would venture to Mars. I can’t think of a more exciting prospect than seeing humans walk on Mars in my lifetime, and I suspect many S&Treaders share that view. The Mars rovers have been an incredible success story, but a field geologist could perform in a few days the same tasks that have taken Spirit and Opportunity five years to accomplish. Moreover, if microbes are eking out an existence on the Red Planet right now, it will probably require a human presence to root them out. But to pay for NASA’s Constellation Moon program, President Bush called for money to be taken from other NASA programs. When I worked at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center from February 2007 to May 2008, I saw firsthand the toll that budget cuts are taking on NASA’s
Like this book? You can publish your book online for free in a few
minutes!