America shook the ambition back to the moon

The US wants to return to the moon before 2020 before bringing people to Mars, but their plans are unlikely to become a reality due to the budget deficit.

The world admired the level of science and technology of the United States when it succeeded in bringing people to the moon in 1969. Photo: ancestry.com.

In mid-July 1969, the US succeeded in bringing the Apollo 11 to the moon. The flight is a combination of discoveries of exploration in human history and astonishing achievements in American science and machine manufacturing. The whole world was stunned by America's technological and ambitious capabilities.

But that's 40 years ago. Now, one of the toughest issues President Barack Obama has to deal with in the coming months is the future of manned flights into space, not General Motors' stability, transparency of Wall Street financial system or stress on the Korean Peninsula.

Many people are asking the question: Is the Obama administration ready to spend the mountain of money to return to the moon before 2020? Will the economic crisis hinder that plan?

The White House has just set up a special committee to reconsider America's choices in the area of ​​cosmic conquest. The move opens a stage in which Washington's interest in space falls relatively low.

The space shuttle project - starting in 1981 - will end next year. But the Constellation replacement program could not start before 2015. In fact, it pushed the United States - always considered the world leader in the field of space conquest - out of the space game for five years.

Jeff Hanley, an official assigned by NASA in charge of the Constellation program, revealed that the reason for the delay was simple. The creation of a new generation of spacecraft is 'consuming' quite a lot of money, while the US government's level of 'violence' in the space sector is decreasing over time.

'At the peak of the Apollo manufacturing project, funding for NASA accounted for about 4% of the federal budget. Today, only nearly 0.5% of America's budget is devoted to the ambition of bringing people into space , 'Hanley explains.

American security guards patrolled the river section near the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.The far side is the shuttle Endeavor on the launch pad.Photo: AP.

John Holdren, White House scientific advisor, said President Obama understood the importance of human flight into space and he really wanted to bring people back to the moon and many other places above the fund. The lower religion of the earth.

But Mr. Obama's problem is also very simple. That is money. America's budget deficit this year may reach 12,000 billion USD. Under these circumstances, the Obama administration naturally had a reason to delay the project of manufacturing a new generation of spacecraft, while the benefits of the project were rather vague.

In the 60s of the last century, the US weakened its economy by implementing the two largest and most expensive projects in the country's history: the space program and the Vietnam War. The days when America swung money without counting are just nostalgia. Today the people of the world's most powerful power believe that their tax money should be used for ambition on Mars. Some bases on the moon will serve as an outpost for the ambition to explore the red planet.

Getting people to Mars is not easy. Humans began conquering the universe nearly 50 years ago. But later public opinion became more indifferent to the same flights, at the same time stunned with their costly level. Until now, they only remembered a few typical events, such as the landing on the moon, the accident of the Challenger and Columbia shuttle.

Over the next few months, Americans will know whether President Obama has found any strategic, ideological or economic reason to push for efforts to bring people to space. More importantly, how much will you dare to spend billions of dollars if you decide to pursue that effort?