In a recent interview, Neil DeGrasse Tyson noted that Newt has been bashing government with one hand and then touting the Apollo program and first landing on the moon on the other hand. Dr. Tyson pointed out that government has a role in funding risky ventures, be it Columbus and his journey to the New World or Lewis and Clark as they explored an expanding America.
Jon Stewart had it right when he noted that Newt has more interest in statehood for a non-existent moon colony then 500,000 Americans situated in Washington, DC. One wonders if Newt has any interest in science on the moon or only campaigning for statehood on the moon. And we may need to set some boundaries with the Chinese and Russians if they already have some similar claims. Maybe we can buy out the Russians as we did with Alaska and give the Chinese the dark side of the moon. So many possibilities.
I support the idea of big thinking for our space program, and maybe we need to piggy-back on silly political aspirations to do something at all. As Great Britain's Telegraph noted recently,
Both the United States and to a greater extent Europe are suffering from a collective sense of ennui, a lack inspiration or purpose, which has manifested itself in a decline in invention and innovation. Nothing better illustrates America’s decline than the technological improvements of its space programme, or lack of them. The LA Times noted last year, when NASA announced plans “to build a heavy launch vehicle capable of sending astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit by 2025", that it would be only "slightly more powerful than the 1960s-era Saturn V that launched Americans to the moon”. How shameful.
If we needed the Cold War to get to the moon, maybe we need a pompous politician to break earth orbit. I just wish we had even bolder aspirations than repeating the past. If this base is a more practical port for later adventures, then it may have merit. If it is only to thumb our nose back at the remaining earthlings, then I believe we can do better things with our money.
Update: I enjoyed Jonah Goldberg's somewhat humorous take on big government projects, such as a lunar mission, in the February 20, 2012, edition of National Review:
...if you're going to go Keynesian, it might as well be on big cool stuff that helps define you as a nation for the better, inspires little kids in positive ways, encourages scientific education and training, helps create a whole generation of creative people (Steve Jobs, Steven Spielberg, and countless others were defined by their love of the space program), intimidates our enemies, and gets us one giant step closer to a Taco Bell on the moon. You can't put a price on that.
