The Path to Space May Be on the Road Less Traveled
Kerianne Hobbs
Issue date: 2/3/10 Section: Diversions
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After the Cold War, American culture is generally apathetic when it comes to continuing a national manned space program. Many Americans simply don't care whether or not NASA establishes a space station on the moon or sends people to Mars. This lack of interest has resulted in an underfunded NASA program that is more likely to be canceled than it is to come to fruition.
The media isn't enamored with the space program either, and their main objection to the matter seems to be the expense of it. A few months ago NASA sent the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite crashing into the moon's surface so that another spacecraft could measure the amount of water in the resulting dust cloud. On the day that it launched I turned on the television to hear "NASA is bombing the moon, and how much is it costing you? We'll tell you tonight at five."
It was a valid question. How much does NASA cost the average American each year? Well, using the 2010 NASA budget of $18.7 billion and the current U.S. population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau of 308,573,850 as of Jan. 28, 2010, NASA costs the average American $60.60 each year. The bailout plans of the past few years have been in the trillions of dollars, so relatively speaking, NASA doesn't get very much. In fact, NASA receives less than 1 percent of the annual budget of the United States.
According to an article published in the Orlando Sentinel on Jan. 27, 2010, the budget for 2011 and beyond will not include funding for the Constellation program at all, a program which includes the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles, as well as lunar landers and bases. With the upcoming retirement of the space shuttle, the immediate future of American manned space flight looks grim.
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