Calls Space Agency A "Luxury We Can No Longer Afford"

Is anyone at NASA is reading this right now, don't let Michael Griffin read Dave Gibson's latest comments in The American Chronicle. It would ruin Michael's day.

Gibson's premise is the race to the moon was part of the cold war... and it's now over, mission accomplished. He says the average American is seeing no real benefit from the space program any more.

He trivializes space technology's benefits in our everyday lives, noting NASA's research has brought us sports bras, improved golf balls, a faster Speedo for Michael Phelps, and resulted in better ventilation for toll booth operators.

Gibson says that after dealing with wars and hurricanes, this week's proposed government bail-out of Wall Street is the last straw.

"Amid crushing federal debt due to the Iraq War, a Congress seemingly bent on bankrupting the nation, and now what will prove to be the costliest corporate welfare bill in US history, we must now consider cutting-out luxuries such as the space program," Gibson writes.

"To say that these are rough economic times is putting it mildly," he adds. "At a time when this nation is at risk of defaulting on it´s debt, it is not only unsound but immoral to spend billions of dollars on NASA. The current space program must be suspended. It has become a decadent luxury we can no longer afford."

Regardless of how you may feel about the notion of abolishing NASA outright, Gibson does makes some valid points -- noting that satellites can be launched with cheaper, unmanned rockets. He's also correct in noting the agency does spend some of its budget on items which range from the frivolous, such as a recently-commissioned original theme song for the Gamma-ray Large area Telescope; to conspicuously inappropriate, such as luxury cruises for contractors.

But, in ANN's opinion, Gibson also misses an important point. Underneath all the rhetoric about using space only for peaceful purposes, we are, at the very least, facing a need to be there for defense capabilities.

Anyone who believes we could abandon space without compromising national security... well, has been reading too many Chinese press releases!

FMI: Read Gibson's Op-Ed, www.nasa.gov