It’s worth asking. Americans may prefer trifle-of-the-week TED talks universes, portrayed with befitting postmod irony. Despite brave talk of humans living on the moon, if that happens, will NASA even be a part of it?
… NASA, by contrast, is on “a long downhill slide to mediocrity.” Exploration budgets have taken a hit. Neil Armstrong died in 2012, aged 82. Some propose a National Park on the Moon, to protect the artifacts of that bygone era. But as science fiction writer Terry L. Mirll notes, we haven’t been to the moon in forty years.
The agency has been directed instead by the White House to reach out to Muslims and make them feel good about their historic contributions to science. But making history, not recounting history, is the core NASA competency. No surprise, space veterans complain of “lack of any coherent leadership from Washington.” And astronaut commanders have warned of “a long downhill slide to mediocrity,” insisting that “America must decide if it wishes to remain a leader in space.” Former NASA administrator Michael Griffin believes the space agency has lost its way.
Has it lost its way? Or has it simply been redirected to the new way? NASA’s historic exploration of conventional “space” made sense in an age when the astronauts read Genesis while floating out there. But the agency could be a liability if its research continues to support the Big Bang or fine-tuning. We now live in an age when grand cosmic speculation about unresearchable multiverses satisfies our thinkers — and not only makes NASA’s real-world exploits look quaint but even renders Star Trek’s “Boldly go.” pointless. Not to worry, China and India, hardly energetic contributors to new atheist cosmologies, are picking up the slack anyway, with China aiming for a manned moon mission … More.
See also: Science Fictions
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