Keith’s note: I co-authored an opinion piece in the Houston Chronicle with Lisa Gray: “Make America Great in Space Again?
Trump is wrecking what we already have.“ — “When it comes to exploring the cosmos, the Trump administration’s quasi-official mantra is “Make America Great in Space Again.” But here’s the thing: NASA is already great.
The next day, the widely popular pick to be the NASA administrator was summarily un-nominated due to an internal White House food fight.
But those companies have been built — and still depend — on work from NASA; developing private American companies with space know-how has been, and continues to be, a NASA goal.
Let’s “Keep America Great In Space” — not abandon our lead.
Keith’s note: Lisa Gray and I co-authored the Houston Chronicle opinion piece “Make America Great in Space Again? Pfft.”. Trump is destroying our current situation. “Make America Great in Space Again” is the Trump administration’s unofficial motto when it comes to space exploration. The fact is, however, that NASA is already excellent. Presently. See below for more.
In addition to visiting every planet in our solar system and finding thousands of planets in other star systems, NASA has sent missions to touch the sun, sent humans to another planet, gazed back in time, and now has spaceships traveling through interstellar space. Such an incredible record is unmatched by any other country. Furthermore, a lot of people believe that the advantages of this 50 years of American leadership are still being felt.
However, rather than enhancing that capacity, the White House aims to destroy almost every facet of space exploration and science in which America has a multi-decade advantage. The dismantling of NASA was intensified this week. The White House unveiled a budget on Friday, May 30, which would eliminate numerous programs and missions and cut a third, if not more, of the workforce at NASA and its contractors. Due to an internal White House food fight, the highly favored candidate for NASA administrator was summarily unnominated the following day.
Around the same time, NASA also announced that it would no longer be providing overall funding for the annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, as well as withdrawing from the annual International Space Station Research and Development Conference, forcing its cancellation. Both were significant events that served as excellent platforms for NASA to showcase its accomplishments to a global audience, which aids in marketing the United States in addition to disseminating scientific knowledge. S. . space accomplishments to prospective customers.
The administration’s policy of outperforming China in space was the backdrop for all of this. However, rather than strengthening America’s space agency in all the areas where China is making progress, the administration is severing NASA’s ties, defaulting that leadership to China and others.
According to this budget, the International Space Station will eventually be retired (as we all knew would happen), and research in low-Earth orbit will continue on one or possibly several U.S. commercial space stations. China, meanwhile, is recruiting clients for its space station, which it recently declared would be expanded.
Turning away from the China angle for a moment, let’s examine the upcoming layoffs at NASA. Every NASA facility will experience a 25–30% reduction in civil service employees, with the contractor workforce probably taking the brunt of the cuts. You can make the “too-many-cooks” argument regarding efficiency, but it’s only so strong. Notwithstanding the Let’s Beat China argument, these cuts will deprive NASA of capabilities necessary to carry out its core duties.
There’s more, though: the lost expertise will remain lost for a long time. Hiring new, younger employees is challenging when your goal is to permanently reduce the workforce. Since Europe has already seized the opportunity to capitalize on the brain drain from America’s space industry, the best place for young Americans to pursue a career in space may soon be outside of the country.
I grew up during the Apollo era. I was raised with the knowledge that NASA could accomplish anything for which it had been granted a charter. Indeed, some notable failures have occurred in the last few decades. However, they are overshadowed by the incredible things I just discussed. Indeed, NASA is capable of and ought to improve. But in order to do so, it requires the people as well as the resources and tools. But the White House isn’t providing that.
Yes, SpaceX is doing incredible things in Texas. Building on early efforts by — you guessed it — NASA, Blue Origin and numerous others have hurried in to enhance American capabilities in space. However, NASA has been and still is committed to building private American companies with space expertise, which is why those companies were founded and still rely on NASA projects. Yet, NASA’s budget cuts, including the elimination of the space station without a clear plan for its future and the cancellation of dozens of upcoming missions and payloads over the next ten years, will decrease rather than increase demand for those private rocket launches. Additionally, if the U. A. Who will pay them if not the government?
The puzzling thing is that the Trump administration wants to defeat China and strengthen American dominance in space, but their misguided strategies will have the exact opposite effect.
America cannot set the standard for the rest of the world in this manner. I’m hoping Congress will take notice. Don’t let up; let’s “Keep America Great In Space.”.
The editor of NASAWatch.com is Keith Cowing.
