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[::..about this blog..::]
"...all these worlds..." is a blog by David Hitt. It covers space exploration, decent science fiction, humor (by its very nature), and whatever else I happen to find cool. (Formerly "You Must Fight The Bear")
Name: David Hitt About Me: Inspiring the next generation of explorers... See my complete profile
[::..disclaimer..::]
The opinions expressed on this page are those of the author, and very likely no one else.
[::..archive..::]
:: Tuesday, December 23, 2003 ::
Been There, Sure, But Done That?
It turns out that the White House has been wasting its time conferring with experts in the field of space exploration in planning a roadmap for spaceflight. Instead, the administration could have simply turned to The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune, one of the world's foremost experts in the field. Using the sort of investigative research that is one of the hallmarks of great journalism, The T-P was able to determine that we've already been to the Moon! In an editorial titled "Been There, Done That," the paper argues that since we visited the Moon briefly 30 years ago, we should now travel directly to Mars. One assumes that means that we should also abandon any future research of Earth's oceans, since we've already been there, and that aviation should have been abandoned after the Wright Brothers' first flew flights. Perhaps the editorial staff should spend more time paying attention to what they're writing. The second paragraph notes: "The Apollo program, which put 12 Americans on the lunar surface, was driven more by the desire to beat the Soviets to the moon than the need to advance human knowledge." They then go on to say, "But the latter should be the focus of any new goal for space exploration..." But, the conclusion they reach is "and that points not to the moon, where we've been, but to Mars." If our goal is to advance human knowledge, and we haven't adequately done that yet on the Moon, then shouldn't we take care of that before moving on. Is their logic that since the Moon was one used as a largely political goal, it no longer has any scientific merit? I'm all in favor of exploring Mars, but not at the cost of ignoring the Moon. We have another world located conveniently a mere quarter of a million miles away, and to argue that we should simply ignore it forever because we spent a few days there decades ago is simply ludicrous. Addendum: Here's what Cosmic Log has to say on the subject.