Feb 01 2010
Space Exploration Put on Hold for NASA
This past summer I worked as an intern for a Senator on Capitol Hill and was able to attend many hearings and budget meetings. I found the hearings on NASA and defense to be particularly interesting so I scheduled my days to go to those meetings. I learned some very interesting and surprising information while attending those meetings and I have found that information to be relevant to today’s top news stories. I was surprised to learn in the summer that NASA was suffering from lack of funding and China was dominating the global community world wide in space technology and exploration. With the recent budget set by the Whitehouse, I fear that the United States dominace in space technology will soon be over and we will be left in the dust of nations like China and Russia. It was hard to find articles that were not totally one sided however the article White House Confirms Course Change for NASA does a good job in explaining the financial aspects of the budget.
I find this to be very interesting because being that we are the United States you would think that we would have the most profound technology that there is. However, after reading your blog I learned that this is not the case. It is remarkable that we are not supporting NASA more because there are so many questions about space that are still left to be answered.
I remember hearing something about this in the summer time. I think that it is not a bad idea to put space exploration on hold right now and focus on the economy. I dont think we need to cut all spending on the space program, but a significant cut would not be a bad idea. Maybe we could team up with another country and combine funding for space exploration. Not only would this allow us to continue our research but it could develope positive diplomatic feelings between the United States and the other country.