Building A Future In Space

As reported in this blog, The Planetary Society presented its take on how the U. S. space program should proceed last week, arguing NASA should focus on putting humans on Mars, and leaving a return to the Moon for much later. Apollo 11's Buzz Aldrin supports the approach.

Apollo 17's Jack Schmidt, however, does not. In a letter to TPS leadership, Schmidt, who is also a former U. S. Senator from New Mexico, argues for returning to the Moon, and building on that, to go to Mars. That is essentially the approach set out by President Bush in January, 2004, and subsequently pursued by Congress.

The difference may come down to "the vision thing." If NASA's mandate is simply to explore-- and if you believe the goal of Mars is sufficiently alluring to maintain political support over the fifteen or twenty year runup to The Mission-- then perhaps Aldrin and TPS are right. If, however, you believe the way to reach and finally possess Mars is to build technological capabilities and develop at least the beginning of an Earth-Moon economy that will expand to include ever more space resources so that an ongoing Mars program can be supported, you likely agree with former Sen. Schmidt.