Editorial: U-turn on space makes sense

OPINION: With the 40th anniversary of the first lunar landing safely out of the way, United States president Barack Obama has abandoned his pre-election pledge to send astronauts back to the moon and ultimately on to Mars.

For fans of big rockets, cutting edge technology and, of course, the relentless search for any signs of alien life, this is a huge blow. For those who believe in common sense and responsible spending, it is a great day.

When President John F Kennedy committed the American nation to the moon race in 1961, he had sound reasons for doing so.

The world was in the grip of the Cold War, and the United States was in danger of being left behind by the Soviet Union, which had stolen a march in space exploration by putting the first man in space and sending up the world's first satellite.

In those days investment in space exploration had a direct payoff in terms of national prestige and military capability. The development of advanced rocket technology helped the US compete with the Soviet Union on this technological front.

This meant both sides could develop bigger and better intercontinental missiles, which managed to ensure that peace was kept in the tit-for-tat Armageddon policy known as mutually assured destruction.

Back in the 1960s the huge spending on the space programme was contentious in a country where you did not have to look hard to find real poverty and inequality, particularly in the African-American community. But the prestige of beating the Soviet Union to the moon outweighed the arguments against space exploration, and the country – and indeed the world – was gripped with space fever.

Four decades later the idea of pouring billions of dollars into blasting humans into outer space for little in the way of return apart from good publicity and some interesting rocks is unlikely to be a vote winner. At a time when Mr Obama's administration is staring down the barrel of a huge budget deficit, it is hard to see space exploration as anything other than frivolous spending.

Space fans will be distraught. Mr Obama's support was seen as crucial at a time when the Space Shuttle programme was due to be wound down, with the last of the reusable shuttles due to be retired this year.

His decision will no doubt leave a huge black hole in the programme, and at Nasa, which is a big employer of some extremely bright rocket scientists. Pragmatism of this kind comes at a price, but it is nevertheless the right thing to do. Is this defeatist? Is this a failure of human imagination? No. The space programme will no doubt live to fight another day when the US economy is in less of a precarious state.

After all, the Moon and Mars will always be there.

- © Fairfax NZ News