NASA, budget cuts and stuff

Dear Mr. President.

You suck. Allow me to explain why.

I have been hesitant to openly criticize you and your administration publicly- because I prefer not to fit the stereotype of the typical Obamahater. I have tried to accept the fact that our country is spiraling into a debt upon which my great grandchildren will be paying interest, and I've tried to stay silent about your crummy healthcare package- but this is the last straw. You wanna cut the constellation program out of NASA.

Last year, my son and I attended space camp at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. We visited the museum, where there is a massive mockup and display for a plan to put humans back on the moon. I know that robotic exploration is sexier, cheaper, and more "realistic" but there's something to be said for MANNED  (or WOMANNED) spaceflight. I realized wafter spending a weekend with a bunch of 9 year-olds that there is real power in nationalism and pride when 300 nine-year-old kids say the pledge of allegience after a weekend of simulated zero G. I just kind of picture the stars and bars fading into the background if future space flight is to be funded by Google.

I mean, here we are- capable of leaving our planet and we're sending souped-up RC cars into space. It's like we're in Spain in the late 1400s and no one wants to sail the ocean blue. It's like we're living in the 1700s on the east coast of the US, and no one is bothering to actually go west. It's like Marco Polo has decided to send a runner to draw pictures of China.

Out of all the things our federal government should be doing, the space program is one of the important ones. I don't believe that governments should be the only ones going to space, but I do think that our government should be continually investing in researching, funding, and continuing programs to put it's citizens into space. Why?
1. Because it is there, and it is expensive. national governments are the only ones that can afford to invest in the research and exploration of space. Because it is a frontier that we should be exploring as a nation, and until we learn to put humans into space on a regular basis- we haven't arrived yet.
2. Because there is an historical precedent for government-funded exploration. Since humanity invented government, governments have been funding exploration- and exploration leads to expansion, and expansion leads to private capital investment, private capital investment leads to growth... Without the initial investment of government into exploration, privatization is a pipe-dream.
3. Because other governments are catching up to our technology. We can send all the robots JPL can build into space- and so can Japan, India, China and a slew of other countries. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_space_agencies

I don't think corporations should own space. I don't think "outsourcing" is the way to do the space program. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for Virgin Galactic and the xprize and all that good stuff- we've got to keep NASA on their toes, but I've been to Goddard, and I've been a "space buff" for a long time- and nobody does mil spec, design and space manufacturing like the good 'ol USA. It is a myth that outsourcing is a new concept anyway- Boeing, Lockheed, APL, JPL and a slew of other universities and corporations have been working with NASA every step of the way.

The Apollo program used computers that weren't as smart as our phones are now. early moon astronauts used pencil and paper navigation at times, and somehow over 40 years later it's too dangerous and costly? Seriously?

C'mon Obama don't be a douchebag and fund the constellation program. http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/CxEMM_SITE/index.html