HOUSTON, TEXAS The American space program urgently needs a vision to fuel a new generation of talent capable of returning humans to the Moon and sending an expedition to Mars.
George Abbey, the former head of NASAs human space exploits, and John Young, a veteran astronaut and moonwalker, both caution that the space agency needs a recharging of technological muscle and a new mandate to push the space frontier beyond low Earth orbit.
Dead-ended program
Speaking today at a Return to the Moon symposium here, sponsored by the Space Frontier Foundation, Abbey, the former head of NASAs Johnson Space Center (JSC) said the vision for human exploration in space is not all that clear today.
"The space program of today is quite different than the program as we knew it back in the 1960s," said Abbey, who ran JSC from January 1996 until February 2001. Abbeys overall tenure with NASA spans nearly 35 years. He is currently a senior assistant for international issues at NASA Headquarters.
"For the first time that I can recollect in my history with NASA, we are at the point in the program where we are reducing our work force and there is no new program coming down the line," Abbey said.
Abbey said that each progression of human space capability led to a follow-on project. Presently, NASAs reach into space by humans dead-ends with the International Space Station.
"We have not sent humans out of Earth orbit for 30 years. Thats not a good situation," Abbey said, noting the last outbound mission of astronauts to the Moon was Apollo 17 in December 1972. "Somehow we need to focus on where were going in space, particularly with humans," he said.
Workforce woes
A shrinking of capable aerospace companies, a retiring NASA and industry workforce, and the need to outreach to todays students is a blend of issues that hamstrings Americas ability to set a new space agenda for the 21st century, Abbey said.
The Moon "is a stepping stone to the futurea very important location," Abbey told the audience. There is need to learn more about how humans live and work when exposed to long duration space stints. "We need that understanding if are going to fly the missions to Mars and go back to the Moon," he said.
"The Moon is really the crossroads. Its a transition point. To go beyond Earth orbit, its going to be the first step. Were going to learn how to work and do things on the Moon that we have to do on Mars," Abbey said. "But the work force is being reduced. There is no new program on the books that we can put these people on to take advantage of their experience," he said.
The former JSC director said that challenging young people is key. Doing so is necessary to maintain our technological prowess in the world community of nations.
"As we look to the future, were going to do our programs differently than weve done them in the past. In the future were going to do things internationally. Going to the Moon and to Marsthose are going to be international undertakings," Abbey said.
Long term survival of species
Veteran astronaut, John Young a Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle commander joined Abbey in underscoring the need for finding a new trajectory for NASA.
Young said that a human return to the Moon is a must-do objective. Prior to a human Mars mission, placing humans back on the Moon is critical to hone both human and technological skills prior to moving onward to the Red Planet, he said.
"The long term survival of the species is what space exploration is all about," Young said.
The prospect for asteroid impacts on Earth, as well as super-volcanoes rattling our planet, are worrisome eventualities, Young said. "The evidence is very clear the way the Earth and the Solar System evolves. These critters are around and we have to look out for them," he said.
NASA: Jail time
Young said that NASA has not been allowed to move forward on a range of high-tech space technologies. He said that the space agencys charter calls for the organization to make progress in the field of aerospace technology.
"I think its damn lucky that were not in jail given the kind of progress weve made over the last five or ten years. We ought to be working on the technologies to get us back to the Moon and Mars," Young told SPACE.com.
"Whether or not you actually go to the Moon or Mars, those technologies have the ability to save us on planet Earth. Do we know when the next asteroid is going to hit? We dont know if its going to hit tomorrow. We cant predict when a super-volcano will go off. The human race is at risk and we better be working on the technologies to get us out of that risk," Young said.
"Spreading the human race out on the Moon and Mars is what we ought to be doingproviding for the survival of our species," Young said. The technologies needed to spread people out into the solar system are the very technologies that allow us to save our species," he said.
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