Mr Aldrin, 78, said: "To me it's abysmal that it has come to this: after 50 years of Nasa, and after putting about $100 billion into the space station, we can't get our own astronauts to our space station without relying on the Russians."
He said his message to the next president is this: "Retain the vision for space exploration. If we turn our backs on the vision again, we're going to have to live in a secondary position in human space flight for the rest of the century."
He added: "These are important issues for consideration by the potential leaders of our country. They're not welcome criticisms for the present heads of NASA."
(Thanks to Gene Steinberg.)
2 comments:
"...after putting about $100 billion into the space station, we can't get our own astronauts to our space station without relying on the Russians."
Um, Buzz? Just three little things:
First, we (the U.S.) have not invested $100 billion in the space station. Second, in view of the relative fragility and immense cost of using the Shuttle to put astronauts on board the station, the Salyut is a much more viable interim solution. Third, it's not "our" space station--it's called the International Space Station, with multi-billion dollar investments from several countries.
I guess I can understand Aldrins nationalistic view, but one might have thought that the view he got from space would have made him more of a planetary citizen.
Michael
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