LTE: NASA Simply Adrift

I do admire a good editor.  This is what got published in the Chronicle.  Just below is what I wrote:

Simply adrift

Let's move past NASA Administrator Charles Bolden's astonishing claim that NASA is adrift because Republicans don't like the president. The truth of the matter is that NASA is moribund because of the actions of the president.

President Obama killed the decade-long and bipartisan program to establish a base on the moon and replaced it with nothing.

Obama then killed the shuttle program and replaced it with "private" companies that, ironically, charge more per pound to deliver cargo to the space station than the shuttle. Those two actions set back our space program by a generation.

All told, though, the decision to collaborate with the Russians on the ISS was a bipartisan $140 billion blunder that resulted in America losing control of its destiny in space.

Now Russia's solution is to use the ISS in another collaboration on a next-generation space station. No doubt America will be expected to pay for 90 percent of that venture too. We must learn from our mistakes and let the ISS - and our partnership with Russia - plunge into the sea. Then we need to start over, free from the likes of Vladimir Putin.

Pete Smith, Houston
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May 18

Regarding "AS NASA SEEKS NEXT MISSION, RUSSIA HOLDS TRUMP CARD" (Sunday Front Page), let's move past NASA Administrator Charles Bolden's astonishing claim that NASA is adrift because “Republicans don’t like the president".  The truth of the matter is that NASA is moribund because of the actions of the president.  President Obama killed the decade-long and bipartisan program to establish a base on the moon, and replaced it with - nothing.  Obama then killed the Shuttle program and replaced it with "private" companies who, ironically, cost more per pound to deliver cargo to the space station than the Shuttle.  Those two actions set back our space program by a generation. 

 

Bolden himself has been the poster child for fecklessness.  His vision for NASA seems to be nothing more than making it an extension of the Environmental Protection Agency and advocating for using NASA's resources in outreach programs to Muslims. 

 

All told, though, the decision to collaborate with the Russians on the ISS was a bipartisan $140 Billion dollar blunder that resulted in America losing control of its destiny in space.  Now Russia's solution is to use the ISS in another collaboration on a next generation space station.  No doubt America will be expected to pay for 90% of that venture too.  We must learn from our mistakes and let the ISS - and our partnership with Russia - plunge into the sea.  Then we need to start over, free from the likes of Vladimir Putin.

Pete Smith