Failure is not an option

Last night the History Channel aired a show called "Beyond the Moon: Failure is Not an Option 2" that focused on missions after Apollo. It was a very good show, and worth watching when it is on reruns.

The ending was the most thought provoking for me. If the Russians weren't also trying to go to the moon in the late 1960's, would we have invested in Apollo as much as we did. Since China is now sending men in orbit, perhaps they'll be the fuel for our next direction. I do agree that compared to Apollo, NASA doesn't have a defined mission.

President Bush's speech about Mars missions with a base on this moon sounded like empty promises, and if he did his history, he would have probably not made that speech. Two other presidents (most recently Reagan) gave a vision for NASA, but never would not follow through with providing resources to do so.

Clinton has come the closest to fulfilling the vision of the International Space Station, but that too doesn't have a purpose besides promotion of international cooperation. But if it ever gets done, what is the mission of the station besides housing astronauts. Can it help in the moon to Mars plan?

I also don't know what's going on with the new shuttle fleet that is supposed to be functional in the next five years. The best I could find was that in 2003, three companies such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing were asked for a design for the new shuttle. What's happened since then, I do not know. As far as I heard (this was around the time of Discovery's launch) was that it's still barely on the drawing board, with nothing serious to consider.