Switching Funding

Some Republicans in the new GOP-controlled U. S. House want to take NASA funding out of climate change research and put it into manned spaceflight. They argue that, especially in a time of tight and possibly shrinking budgets, federal agencies should focus on their core missions, and for NASA that is exploring space.

They have a point. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would seem to be the obvious home for all federal climate change research, but the representatives involved did not call for shifting the money and researchers from NASA to NOAA. All of them represent districts in states that benefit from NASA spending, which critics no doubt will say makes these people more interested in saving jobs at home than in exploring space. Politicians looking out for their constituents, of course, is hardly new-- some would even say that's how the system works-- but the fact that this bunch might want to save jobs does not automatically mean these members are not also interested in space exploration. Having two, or more, motivations for an act is quite human.

The situation illustrates a basic problem, however. Too often since Apollo, space policy has been cobbled together to serve local, political ends. U. S. space policy needs to be developed to serve national interests.