Washington File

The Moon and Project Apollo was the peak of US human space exploration. The Space Shuttle is an amazing machine but it's a cargo ship to orbit (still, I'd love to see one launch before they are retired).

The robot craft like the Mars rovers are doing exceptional, amazing work, and if a mission goes wrong, no one dies, but people don't connect to robots on an emotional level.

It's encouraging to see the US look to the Moon again and to Mars (original plans were to have astronauts in Mars in the 1980s). I hope that it is part of a long-term goal, not just a means to "beat the Russians" or dazzle people. I hope that the US will reach out to other countries, Canada included (and Russia ... and India ... and maybe one day China) to work together in space.

It's a huge amount of money to go to the Moon and Mars, but I'd rather see $100 more spent on space exploration compared with another $1 spent on war.

Kudos to Mr. Champ, I'm really glad someone is writing on this topic. And I agree that NASA's emphasis on robotic exploration has diluted public interest. However, I would point out that, after Apollo 11, the drop in public interest was precipitous. Even while other missions landed.
I think there are two solutions to NASA's perception problem. First, the US needs political leaders who are themselves dedicated to a robust space exploration effort (the current administration doesn't qualify since their lofty plans are accompanied by almost no money). Second, very rich, somewhat crazy smart people need to keep ploughing their money into private space enterprises. There have already been some exciting steps in this direction (i.e. space ship one and spacehab) and more are coming (i.e. Virgin Galactic).

Being in my mid twenties, humans have not even been on the moon during my lifetime. The most fantastic thing I remember about the space program were the explosions of two shuttles, the Hubble telescope repair on IMAX, the Mars rovers, and seeing the ISS fly overhead. Those are hardly events to get the average young person interested in space exploration. We need something more daring, and we need to get back onto the moon before everyone who was alive for the first time, is too old and gone to offer their advice.

There was a while there where NASA tried to convince the government to given them money to research newer and cheaper ways to get into space. That didn't really happen, so NASA has made do with trying to use the shuttles as efficiently as possible.

Today, however, universities and private sector companies are doing the research the government wouldn't pay for. The results have been pretty good. At this point we are relatively close to a dramatically different way of getting into space - the space elevator. I'll leave that for you folks to Google. At any rate, shuttles will soon be gone and NASA will be running a significantly different kind of operation.

The question that comes to my mind is "When will we return to the stars?" While the Russians have now become valued allies as opposed to the "competition" as they were in the '60s the space race was much more exciting in the '60s when we were trying to beat the Russians to the moon. Once that was done there didn't seem to be a goal to reach for any more. That is what we need a "goal", a return to the moon, establish a lunar colony, start taking civillans (John Q Public) into space, start working toward a manned Mars landing. We have to move out into the cosmos & it's past time we started.

Yes, I share the opinion expressed herein. There is a distinct lack of the really exciting, frontier-pushing stuff going on these days that the author would remember growing up. I'm certain that if our Space News was littered with the exploits of Mars-walking astronauts, or at the very least the proposed return to the moon, we might see an increase in interest. At the moment, the shuttle's milk runs pass by barely a blip on the radar of public consciousness.

On the other hand, I commend the robotic probe work being done, which is the truly exciting stuff right now.

I recently returned from a vacation in Florida. I took my son to the Kennedy Space Centre. I think the perception is perpetuated by NASA. Most of the Center's exhibits were about the past missions, the moon and rockets - all old school to my son who was not very thrilled by it - his favourite thing to do there (besides complain) was the Shuttle Simulator (which he successfully landed - by the way).

NASA needs to do something big again! Otherwise they join the rest of the demise of the American Empire...

Strikes me that there isn't enough at stake for generations X & Y. Only when we feel a sense of entitlement to the moon, i.e., when ALL our earthly resources are depleted, and a massive shift of population off the planet is required, will space junkies re-emerge amongst us. However, I do think there's some hope for the youngest. The wee-uns certainly get hyped up about space travel, perhaps because they see it as a possibility within their lifetimes.

I do myself wonder what the missions are about, since we don't really hear about them. I am quite sure it's helpful for science, but in which ways?

In the beginning it was exploration, could we say now that it became exploitation or, in the russian case, a commercial venture at the most?

Mars is a more ambitious project, and by far real exploration. The International Space Station has almost arrive to its retirement time. Are Space Shuttles just entertainment?

What space program? Humanity hasn't left the gravity well of our home planet in my lifetime, so you'll have to excuse me if I consider it in the past tense.

NASA is doing some interesting things with robotic probes, but I doubt their launch could be easily distinguished from a communications satellite, so I don't see the point of crossing a continent to see it.

Your position on the issue's not a problem to this viewer/reader. But then, I've already admitted to some bias on the subject myself.

I've often wished that I could get down to KSC for just one shuttle launch myself before NASA's forced to wrap up that phase of their operation for keeps, whenever that ends up being. Granted, it's starting to look more and more like more of us will actually be going at least as far up as Virgin Galactic can take us before we die. And, of course, there's Cape Breton in the future if everything works out up here in the next couple of years. That will be a boon to Canada in more ways than one.

But it's not going to be the same as what these Floridians and their neighbours from across the USA have been blessed with, is it?