PLATFORM : We Cannot Afford Not to Keep Going Into Outer Space

The desperate needs today of humans on Earth blur our vision of the future. When we ask whether we can afford more piloted adventures in space, there is an imperative to compare the cost with those of earthly needs. The comparison is not favorable to our space endeavors. But in fact, the equation doesn’t add up. No legislator or government bureaucrat or pleader of special causes can offer a formula that would guarantee that money saved from our space program would find its way into those urgent needs--health, housing, education, crime.

In the absence of that promise, we can only look at our space program as it stands alone. And we come to the conclusion that we should not abandon a program that pushes human capabilities, that recognizes that failing to accept the challenges before us invites stagnation. Nor should we forget that there are practical benefits not only to the future but even unto this generation--an understanding of our environment not the least among them; and perhaps beyond all other benefits, the promise of discovery of things of which we cannot even imagine--the golden grail of any pure or applied science.

As with all things in this period of a strained national economy, we must demand a strict accounting by our space agency--both on the financial and the mission side. We have a right to ask for economies wherever they can be achieved. And we have a right to ask that there be careful consideration of the potential benefits before missions are assumed and expenditures committed.

Outer space--can we afford to go? The answer is, the present environment would indicate we cannot. But the alternative is worse. We cannot afford not to go.