NASA and America’s space program are becoming a running joke

Our nation cannot afford apologists for NASA, any incompetent or greedy contractors who may supply the agency, nor the clueless politicians who enable failure and the disgraceful waste of American taxpayers’ hard-earned money.

The two recently scrubbed launch attempts for the $4.1 billion unmanned Artemis 1 moon mission is not the problem; it’s simply a poorly cobbled-together poster child for a once great space program that is spiraling down into late-night joke status. But the punchline of this joke is negative national and economic security consequences for the American people.    

During his historic speech on Sept. 12, 1962, at Rice University, on the need for the United States to become the “preeminent spacefaring nation,” John F. Kennedy stressed: “We mean to be a part of it — we mean to lead it. For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. … For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of preeminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war.”

The young president was right to articulate those worries. That said, he was about six decades too early. In 1962, there was no nation capable of turning space — or the moon — into the ultimate “high ground” for military purposes. Today, Russia remains a worry, but it is the People’s Republic of China that is taking center stage in the militarization of space. President Kennedy’s 1962 fear is all too real in 2022. All that we know, from low Earth orbit to the surface of the moon, one day may be “governed by a hostile flag of conquest.”

The belief by some that once humans cut through Earth’s atmosphere into the vacuum of space, our flaws, greed, prejudices and military ambitions will be left behind is not only naïve, but dangerous. And NASA and our space program are foundering because they are leaderless and lack a true champion.

Aside from working on space-related issues at the Pentagon, and later consulting for NASA and the Space Shuttle team, I also had the honor to speak with all 12 men who walked on the moon.  Each told me that without the enthusiastic support of the U.S. president, the space program would be rudderless in a number of substantial ways. Sadly, our space program has not had that champion since Kennedy. Some presidents of late honestly have seemed more interested in space heaters than space programs.

Today, as NASA focuses on matters such as identity politics, the proper use of pronouns and global warming, China is taking dead aim at the moon and the energy independence-giving helium-3 that litters its surface. The helium-3 isotope could provide a potentially limitless supply of safe, clean, green energy. Some experts estimate the moon’s surface holds over 2 million metric tons of helium-3, and that just 25 metric tons could fuel the energy needs of the United States for a year.

So, helium 3 could prove to be the game-changer that not only reshapes our future but also determines control of the near solar system. Many people may not be familiar with this “miracle” isotope, but I can assure you the military leaders who run China’s space program realize its potential and are counting on it.

Just as China strategically buys the silence of Big Tech and other U.S. corporations, American universities, sports entities and Hollywood with multibillion-dollar contracts, Beijing is predictably stealing our milk money and eating our lunch when it comes to being the “preeminent spacefaring nation.”

China is depending on NASA, our defense contractors, the White House and Congress to go even more woke, waste more money and time, and continue to ignore the lessons of history. Should the do-nothing Republicans somehow win back control of Congress in November, they would be wise to initiate hearings to hold NASA and its contractors accountable for their politically correct but foolish decisions.

The moon and the energy independence and military advantage it can provide is waiting. China is heading there, and its taikonauts are bringing a bright red “Keep Off” sign with them.

Douglas MacKinnon, a political and communications consultant, was a writer in the White House for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and former special assistant for policy and communications at the Pentagon during the last three years of the Bush administration.