Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon, addressed a business conference in Ann Arbor, Mich., Wednesday and called for a "coordinated, international initiative to expand space exploration," according to Ann Arbor.com.
Aldrin indicated that he had become disenchanted with President Obama, especially due to his failure to even acknowledge the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy's speech to a joint session of Congress to land a man on the Moon. Previously, Aldrin had supported Obama's space policy that canceled the Constellation program to send astronauts back to the Moon and instead send them to an Earth-approaching asteroid. Subsequently, Aldrin seemed to change his mind and endorse a return to the Moon goal as part of a larger space exploration program after all.
Aldrin also announced his intention to lobby the Republican presidential candidates on the subject of space exploration.
Aldrin's breaking with President Obama, whose space policy he used to support, represents a growing discontent among supporters of that policy about its efficacy and the seriousness of the president in pursuing it. Aldrin sat in the audience at the Kennedy Space Center during the president's April 15, 2010, speech in which Obama announced the mission to an asteroid goal. Clearly he regrets having taken that route, which was at odds with many of his fellow Apollo astronauts.
Aldrin's new mission to talk to the Republican presidential candidates about space exploration is a daunting one indeed. Whatever the benefits of space exploration, the debt crisis is still upon the United States. Budget cutting rather than spending on new programs is all the rage in Washington. Any idea of augmenting NASA's budget to pursue space exploration beyond low Earth orbit will be a tough sale indeed.
Still, President Obama's stewardship of the nation's space program, which has thrown it into chaos, with finger-pointing and blame shifting between NASA, Congress, and various factions of space activists, is certainly a potential issue. Space could bound up many larger themes of American exceptionalism, economic vitality, and national security. One or more of Obama's political opponents, if he or she is adroit enough, could go far with space as an issue.
The trick, of course, for a presidential candidate would be how to propose the kind of spending a space exploration program would require while calling for deep spending cuts everywhere else in the federal budget. The demagoguery about "favoring Mars over kids and seniors" practically writes itself.
There will also be the problem of sorting out various space proposals. Some will want to send astronauts directly to Mars. Others favor the Moon. And there is also the vexing problem of how best to encourage the development of a commercial space industry.
Aldrin should be congratulated for facing reality and setting out to rectify the damage he helped cause the nation's space program. Certainly any presidential candidate would profit by giving him a hearing. But his should not be the only advice listened to by anyone who wants to include space as an issue in pursuit of the presidency.
Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of Apollo and The Last Moonwalker. He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the L.A. Times, and The Weekly Standard.
