Lost Moon Research Paper

Lost Moon: The future of U.S. Manned Spaceflight The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, more commonly known as NASA, was founded in the midst of war. During the infamous Cold War, two global superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, competed for dominance over the other. No such area of competition was as fierce as outer space. Success in the 1960’s was determined largely through technological advances, and manned spaceflight was viewed as the pinnacle of technological and political superiority. Finally, in 1969, NASA landed Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin on the lunar surface. In 1972, after six lunar landings, Congress decided that NASA needed a budget cut. Before long, however, the U.S. was back in space aboard the
Since a 2004 address by President George W. Bush, it had been under the impression that after the shuttle’s retirement, funds and research would be put in to return to the moon by 2020 and then proceed on to other destinations, most notably, Mars (Logsdon). The effort became known as Project Constellation. In 2009, however, a review board known as the Augustine Committee calculated that the Constellation program could not be executed without substantial increases in funding. President Barack Obama then announced a proposal on February 1, 2010 to cancel the program (Amos). The President described Constellation as “over budget, behind schedule, and lacking in innovation” (Achenbach). Instead, Obama announced support for private vehicles to ferry U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station and developing, by 2015, a heavy lift launch vehicle capable of exploration in deep space (Weaver, and Braukus). Perhaps the most notable difference between the Bush and Obama plans is the exclusion of a lunar flight from the NASA Authorization Act of 2010. Numerous astronauts have stressed the importance of a set mission to the moon, including Neil Armstrong. Before his death in 2012, the notoriously private Armstrong was startlingly vocal in his disapproval of the federal plan. The first moonwalker asserted that Earth-moon flights would be critical stepping stones for expeditions to Mars. He even pointed out that over 14 million miles of the lunar surface has yet to be explored, lending to the possibility of further experiments and study (Cavanaugh). The National Space Society regards a lunar return as a high priority for NASA in order to extend human colonization, pursue scientific interests, test new technologies, unite nations in peaceful activity, expand the global economic sphere, and engage the public and students in high level mathematics and sciences (Loff). The current exclusion of