From his novel, Contact:
The nations that had instituted spaceflight had done so largely for nationalistic reasons; it was a small irony that almost everyone who entered space received a startling glimpse of a transnational perspective, of the Earth as one world.
On Christmas Eve, Captain Future posted a magnificent diary: 40 Years Ago Today Astronauts Discovered Life in Space Yesterday, my diary Suggested Principles for a Progressive Vision for Space Exploration -- Part One offered five principles to assist in formulating a truly progressive space policy.
Today, I focus on one of those five principles in Part Two of this series:
Doing space exploration the "right way" can facilitate our ability to think ecologically and with respect to the extended sustainability of large scale human ventures;
Suggested Principles for a Progressive Vision for Space Exploration (PVSE) -- Part Two
I had originally intended that Part Two would address the practical and political reasons why an Obama Administration cannot simply abandon human spaceflight and I wrote
Tomorrow, Part Two of my series shall address why the Obama Administration cannot, indeed dare not cancel US taxpayer funded human spaceflight;
But yesterday, a comment by Sam Jones was posted in my diary:
Just As Soon As We Have World Peace...
..there is no more hunger or poverty and we all have sufficient access to health care I'm with you.
But is this an "either / or" type of question? If asked to choose between "world peace" or "world hunger" or "adequate universal health care" and "space exploration" of course I would stand with Sam Jones, however I deny this is a choice we actually face.
As for "world peace" here is an extended passage from Carl Sagan's novel, Contact:
The boundaries are arbitrary. The planet is real. Spaceflight, therefore, is subversive. If they are fortunate enough to find themselves in Earth orbit, most people, after a little meditation, have similar thoughts. The nations that had instituted spaceflight had done so largely for nationalistic reasons; it was a small irony that almost everyone who entered space received a startling glimpse of a transnational perspective, of the Earth as one world." - Carl Sagan, Contact
This idea has been recently expanded upon in an essay by Tad Daley: Why Progressives Should Care About Human Destiny in Space and this passage is illustrative of the argument:
"From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty," said Edgar Mitchell, one of only 12 humans to have walked on the surface of another world. "You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter million miles out and say, 'Look at that, you son of a bitch.'"
This is why the late Carl Sagan claimed that spaceflight was actually subversive. Although governments have ventured into space, Sagan observed, largely for nationalistic reasons, "it was a small irony that almost everyone who entered space received a startling glimpse of a transnational perspective, of the Earth as one world."
Seeing our planet as a whole, apparently, enables one to see our planet as a whole.
Finally, space may someday deliver to us arguably the greatest progressive value of all. The ethic of human unity that space seems inevitably to engender may, down the road, ultimately engender permanent human peace as well.
I am charmed by astronaut Edgar Mitchell's words, here: "You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter million miles out and say, 'Look at that, you son of a bitch.'"
Another quote from Tad Daley's piece demonstrates that he and I agree on another of my five proposed principles for a progressive space policy:
[We should] dedicate ourselves to the goal, however distant, of establishing the human race permanently beyond the cradle of its birth. First beyond our planet, then beyond our solar system, as we venture, slowly but inexorably, in tiny lifeboats afloat on an infinite sea, to live forever among the stars.
Here is my fifth proposed principle:
- The ultimate long term objective of human spaceflight should be for our species to attempt to become spacefaring; to become a two planet or multi-planet species.
Tad Daley looks beyond our solar system, and frankly he said it better than I did just as Captain Future's diary explains the significance of the Apollo 8 Earthrise photo better than I am able:
The engineers and mission planners snubbed earth photos as "touristy snap shots," and astronauts often didn’t see the point of them. Until they got out there. Then, as several admitted, seeing their home planet whole became the most memorable aspect of the voyage. That response to seeing it was true from the start. "How beautiful our Earth is!" exclaimed Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space.
But it was the Earthrise photo that became a spectacularly popular image—splashed across magazine pages, and posterized for posterity and dorm room walls. Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders later suggested that it caused people to "realize that we’re all jammed together on one really kind of dinky little planet, and we better treat it and ourselves better, or we’re not going to be here very long."
* * *
Many of the Apollo astronauts returned to Earth not only with a new interest in ecology, but with a sense of urgency. Gene Cernan, the last man to stand on the Moon, felt "My destiny was to be not only an explorer, but a messenger from outer space, an apostle for the future." Michael Collins returned determined "that I would do all I could to let people know what wonderful home we have—before it is too late." Edgar Mitchell thought about "beneath the blue and white atmosphere was a growing chaos...that population and conscienceless technology were growing rapidly way out of control."
And yet, even I find myself thinking: "Cool photos, and yes these images expand our consciousness but is that all there is to this point?" and I would answer my question with "Yes, there is!"
Part Two (I change course, here)
Setting aside arguments based on the consciousness enhancing aspects of space exploration and the feel-good photos coming from space, I also assert that if a space exploration program is "done properly" it can enhance our ability to undertake sustainable long term projects. This is another aspect of proposed principle #2.
- Doing space exploration the "right way" can facilitate our ability to think ecologically and with respect to the extended sustainability of large scale human ventures;
In June of 2004, a report was presented to President Bush and the public by a group commonly known as the Aldridge Commission which sought to address how to implement the Bush version of the Vision for Space Exploration. The entire report (a 64 page pdf file) can be downloaded from the US government and I believe it is useful reading for anyone interested in space policy.
One of the members of the Commission was Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of New York's Hayden Planetarium. Way back in March of 2004, Tyson spoke to a group in New York and a portion of his comments were reported as follows:
One major issue that the new space initiative faces is sustainability: how do you maintain a long-range program like the President’s plan, with milestones that extend to 2020 and beyond, given the changes in both administrations and Congresses? The commission identified sustainability as perhaps the biggest challenge facing the plan during its first public hearing, and Tyson spent some time during his presentation to address the issue from a couple of different angles.
These concerns ended up in the final report as well, for example:
To sustain this program over many Presidential Administrations and Congressional sessions, our leaders must routinely explain the value, affordability and credibility of the program to all Americans so that they accept ownership of it.
* * *
Successful implementation of the national space exploration vision will require significant cultural and organizational changes in the federal government's approach to managing the effort, and bold transformational initiatives must be undertaken.
We elect an entirely new Congress every two years, approximately one-third of all Senators every two years, and a new President every four years. Initiating and sustaining a program that could extend for twenty or thirty years, or longer is very difficult in this environment and with respect to space policy the Bush Administration has failed utterly, as it has in so many other venues.
There is a fascinating history waiting to be written concerning how the Vision for Space Exploration as contemplated by the Aldridge Commission and which began to be implemented by NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and Associate Administrator Admiral Craig Steidle morphed into the current ESAS architecture advanced by current NASA Administrator Michael Griffin and believed by many to be unsustainable and unaffordable.
Back on June 3, 2008 I posted a comment about this at Jeff Foust's spacepolitics website:
Someday I hope that a good historian with strong insider connections tells us the true "inside baseball" account as to how Admiral Steidle’s spiral development program morphed into ESAS with neither Congress or the White House expressing few if any reservations whatsoever.
The recent controversy between Lori Garver (Obama's transition team) and Dr. Griffin (NASA Administrator)
"Mike, I don't understand what the problem is. We are just trying to look under the hood," Garver reportedly said.
"If you are looking under the hood, then you are calling me a liar," Griffin reportedly replied. "Because it means you don't trust what I say is under the hood."
does not bode well for a smooth transition or the sustainability of a long term project that will necessarily span multiple Presidential Administrations and many different Congressional delegations.
Why is it important? Because of our need to address our climate crisis.
As some may recall, President Jimmy Carter installed solar panels on the White House. President Ronald Reagan removed them.
President Barack Obama cannot possibly solve global warming by January of 2017, therefore we need a sustainable program that we can stick to for decades. I assert that establishing a politically sustainable program of space exploration will help us practice and assist in learning how to craft the programs that are needed to combat catastrophic climate change.
For better or worse, our next President must initiate programs to address global climate change that can be sustained after his second term in office and which engage the entire planet in a cooperative effort never seen before in human history. The cost of doing that shall be several orders of magnitude greater than NASA's budget of approximately ~$17 billion (maybe increased to say ~$20 billion) and therefore, working to craft a program of space exploration which is politically and bureaucratically sustainable across changes in leadership would seem a helpful exercise.
Kinda like playing poker at the $5 table to hone skills needed at the $500 table.
Recall that the Manhattan Project was begun and concluded under one President, FDR. Project Apollo was begun by JFK and essentially concluded under his successor LBJ and his successor, Richard Nixon shut down Project Apollo about as rapidly as he could.
Yes, the Cold War spanned Truman to Reagan & Bush the Wiser, however many missteps occurred along the way.
Confronting climate change will require a level of political cooperation the world as never before seen. Not only within the United States but among all the nations of the world. For example, China can easily burn more than enough coal to utterly swamp whatever advances we achieve here in the United States.
Those Christmas Eve photos from Apollo 8 helped raise consciousness about the fragile beautiful nature of our planet and the foolishness of strife between nations. But raising consciousness doesn't solve problems, and solving climate change shall require commitments that span decades.
Developing a progressive vision for space exploration (funded modestly in comparison with our other needs) and demanding that such a vision adopt a long term perspective offers an opportunity to practice the cooperative skills and acquire the bureaucratic skill sets needed to accomplish multi-decade plans.