The eight years of the Obama
administration were dark days for a number of reasons (Obamacare, increased
federal spending, and the expansion of the administrative state chief among
them), but also because of what was essentially a gutting of the U.S. space
program. The Space Shuttle program was retired, and the program that was to
have replaced it, Constellation, was scrapped. Ambitious plans to return to the Moon and send the first
astronauts to Mars by the 2020’s were quietly retired, replaced by a retooled
NASA mission philosophy that placed more emphasis on combating climate change.
American astronauts were left unable to even reach the International Space
Station without hitching rides with the Russians.
Now that may be changing.
In both of President Trump’s two major
speeches since taking office, he has hinted at a renewed space program, saying in his joint address to Congress on February 28 that “American footprints
on distant worlds are not too big a dream” by 2026. Members of the Trump
administration in general seem to be more favorable toward space exploration than their Obama-era predecessors,
including Attorney General Jeff Sessions. And just this week, a bill sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz, which would provide NASA with a robust budget
and amends its mission statement to more prominently push for the exploration of
other planets, passed the House.
These are all obviously early steps, and
actually putting a person on Mars, or even returning to the Moon, is still
years away. But it highlights a newfound seriousness in Washington toward the
goals of space exploration and colonization, and refocusing NASA away from
climate change activism and back toward its original mission.
As I’ve said before, private enterprise and commercial exploration should be an
important part of America’s long-term space missions, but this is also an area
with calls for more robust government involvement, particularly in the early stages.
Finally, others in Washington are waking up to that fact.
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