When I was a child, once a year my elementary school would bring in this enormous inflatable dome made for viewing projections of the stars and constellations. It would be set up in the library and just walking by it would give me goosebumps. When it was finally my class’ turn to visit this blow-up universe, I was the first in line. Imagine 40 some second graders lying on their backs on a library floor. Of course there was a great deal of giggling, squirming, and general disinterest—but not for me. I would lie there year after year, in tune with it all and taking it in as though I was truly sailing through outer space. I guess you could say I caught the bug. However, my story seems to be a rarity in the 21st Century.
They say Americans are no longer excited about space. They say after the Apollo missions, the public shut off their black and white televisions and never turned them on again to see it all in full color. In recent years NASA's failures have been the only public focus on their endless efforts and milestones—until now.
The Constellation program is shocking the ever-latent pulse of a NASA out of touch with the American public since the moon landing. This program holds the potential to reel in your next door neighbor, the worker at the corner market and even your uncle who always laments over government spending. Constellation will tempt people to once again take the time to look up at a pristine night sky and marvel at the possibilities. Americans lost this precious curiosity somewhere along the way and this is our chance to get it back.
As we in the space community are well aware, recent budget cuts have completely ended the Constellation's efforts and sent thousands of people with years of time and effort invested in this program reeling. This change was, in large part, the result of an effort put forth by a group dissidents preaching against Constellation itself. This group contends that going back to the moon is a waste of time and funding and instead suggest that NASA focus on going directly to Mars. If this shall be the rationale, we must stop and examine all the facts instead of entertaining whimsical notions.
First, an American has not stepped foot on a celestial body since 1972. That’s right, we have no more first-hand knowledge than we did at the close of the Apollo program. It is being suggested by this new regime that we send out brave American lives to one of the harshest environments imaginable armed with no more colonization experience than that of Buzz Aldrin. At the risk of throwing out painfully fitting clichés—how can we expect them to run when all we know how to do is crawl while blindfolded?
That being said, there’s the perhaps more prominent issue of funding. NASA has a very specific architecture guiding them through the adventures that Orion and Ares are destined to yield. Attempting to completely revamp it now would mean an incomprehensible monetary loss. Breaking contracts with government contractors is not cheap and is sure to rack up a pretty penny in lost revenue comparable to the program's cost in the first place.
Aside from this conveniently overlooked fact, the loss of time and most definitely employment on the part of thousands of hard working blue collar and white color Americans who have spent years on these projects is an inevitably unfortunate fate.
Constellation is the Apollo of our day; not in man’s return to the moon but rather the birth of a new United States space program in the eyes of all mankind. Ares and Orion have the potential to breathe new life into scientific discovery itself. We don’t want, at this crucial moment, to set ourselves up to fail when the world so desperately needs us to succeed.
From black and white to high definition, the days of families crowded around their televisions watching man explore new worlds are indeed upon us once again. I cannot be any more clear on this next point: this is truly a gift. It is of the utmost importance, in this day as no other, that we not gamble with this good faith by foolishly abandoning all reasonable logic. Throwing away Constellation doesn’t just affect us anymore. It puts at risk the dreams of generations to come—the dreams that all wide-eyed elementary students have come to rely on as they lose themselves in a ceiling blanketed with Constellation dreams.
-Alexandra Rolwes
Working in outerspace to benefit planet Earth
