Joe Bell

If President Barack Obama wants NASA to continue to follow its stated mission he’d better contact the current administrator, Charles Bolden, and tell him. According to NASA’s web site its mission “is to pioneer the future in space exploration … and aeronautics research.”

Despite that clear directive Bolden believes Obama has given him a new assignment. In a recent interview, Bolden said the president “charged me with three things. One was he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math, he wanted me to expand our international relationships, and third … he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historical contributions to science … and math and engineering.”

Having guided the economy and health care down irresponsible paths Obama now turns his attention towards enfeebling the nation’s space program. Inspiring children is the job of parents and educators. The men and women of NASA should be cited as examples of scholarship and achievement to motivate children but they must focus on space exploration. Obama should demand NASA rise to the level of its glory days. It is doubtful anyone, child or adult, will be inspired by Bolden’s proclamation, “We’re not going to go anywhere beyond low earth orbit as a single entity. The United States can’t do it…” Achieving impressive goals will rouse America’s children more than words and a nifty web site.

Developing international relationships is fine as long as it supports NASA’s main focus – studying the cosmos. Otherwise, leave diplomacy to the State Department.

The historical contributions of Islam are undeniable. Bernard Lewis, professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, points out at one time, “Islam represented the greatest military power on earth… It was the foremost economic power in the world… It had achieved the highest level so far in human history in the arts and sciences of civilization.”

But questions present themselves. How does NASA’s stated mission coincide with Obama’s new purpose for the organization? It doesn’t.

Why is it NASA’s responsibility to help the Muslim world – or any other world – “feel good about their historical contributions?” It isn’t.

The new goals may be justifiable – but not for NASA.

The third leg of Obama’s new NASA stool is reminiscent of the administration’s “charm offensive” which failed as it tried to “reset” relations with Russia and persuade Iran from pursuing its nuclear agenda. There is no reason to think anyone who follows a radical interpretation of Islam will be persuaded to look favorably upon America simply because NASA reminds them of a golden era.

Obama is stunning in his naiveté and is damaging the nation’s space program by telling NASA to abandon its main tasks. The agency is already knee-deep in despondency. Bolden made the case when he recently said the U.S. is no longer capable of going beyond low Earth orbit without help from other nations.

After the two final space shuttle flights are completed next year the U.S. will be unable to send astronauts into low Earth orbit. We will rely on Russia for such launches. That is a national disgrace. If scientific advancement, national security and pride factored into this equation, Obama would have insisted NASA correct the situation.

Bolden said, “NASA is not only a space exploration agency but also an earth improvement agency.”

That is Pollyanna-type blather. Perhaps Obama should put NASA in charge of next year’s Earth Day celebration. Yes, good people want to make the world a better place but different agencies have different objectives and NASA has been thrown off its primary mission.

Obama’s NASA assignment is consistent with his worldview that America must stop sending a message of competition abroad, open the Peter, Paul and Mary songbook and invite friends and foes to meet at the campfire for a hootenanny. That attitude may gain traction at summer camp but in the world of international affairs such displays of gullibility unfortunately make one appear weak, incapable and inexperienced.

On January 27, 2010, the Orlando Sentinel reported, “NASA’s plans to return astronauts to the moon are dead. So are the rockets being designed to take them there – that is, if President Barack Obama gets his way.”

The story said Obama “will direct NASA to concentrate on Earth-science projects – principally, researching and monitoring climate change…”

Perhaps Obama believes it will take the efforts of an organization that once sent men to the moon and brought them home to prove Al Gore is right about global warming. Such a Herculean endeavor may be needed to counter last year’s e-mail scandal – Climategate. Those e-mails, from the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, indicated a number of efforts were made to adjust or suppress information regarding global warming. Global warming evaluation is no task for NASA.

NASA set the standard for space exploration with Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and other programs. It is now tasked with child motivation, engaging in diplomacy and generating global healing sessions. No wonder America can no longer “go anywhere beyond low earth orbit as a single entity.”

The new NASA instructions further cement in place the reality that the current administration views meekness as a national asset, timidity as a means of getting foes to flock to your side and a refusal to aspire to greatness as a sign of, well, greatness.

During a brief time in charge Obama and the Democrats have begun significantly altering the direction of the United States. The recent NASA revelation indicates no agency is exempt as the current administration continues to reconfigure national goals and policy. NASA and the nation deserve better. November cannot come soon enough.

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