Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), now that he is in charge of the Senate subcommittee that oversees NASA, want’s to provide “clear, long-term mission objectives to the hard working men and women over at the space agency” as he indicated in the opening remarks of a NASA budget hearing on Thursday.
The Senator used the following rhetoric to drive his message home, inspiring words like:
It is time for man to once again leave the safety of the harbor and further explore the deep uncharted waters of deep space.
Would JFK be impressed? Let’s continue to find out….
Pic via slate.
Senator Cruz thinks NASA is spending too much time and money studying Earth, and is neglecting the rest of outer space. Basically, he want’s NASA to get out of the business of studying climate change and “go off into space and do something.”
I would suggest that almost any American would agree that the core function of NASA is to explore space. That’s what inspires little boys and little girls across this country. It’s what sets NASA apart from any agency in the country.
You can thank John F. Kennedy for this. His famous “We choose to go to the moon, not explore boring climate change” speech inspired millions back in the 1960’s when he was trying to lead a national effort to beat the Russians to the moon. It is lauded as one of the greatest speeches of all time. You can watch it HERE.
Cruz is tired of all the “climate change talk” and thinks NASA is losing it way. He wants to provide a new vision.
I am concerned that NASA, in the current environment has lost it’s full focus on that core mission.
This is code for: Why does President Obama’s $18.5 billion budget increase spending for Earth Science research by 41 percent, yet decrease space exploration by 7.6 percent?
NASA Administrator Bolden has quite a different view of what the agency’s role is, however. He told Cruz:
Our core mission from the very beginning has been to investigate, explore space and the Earth environment, and to help make this place better. We can’t go anywhere if the Kennedy Space Center goes underwater and we don’t know why. It is absolutely critical that we understand Earth’s environment because this is the only place that we have to live.
It must be noted that NASA has been fundamental in helping the U.N. International Panel on Climate Change conclude that the increase in greenhouse gas emissions is contributing to the rise in global temperatures. It is working hard on answering other pertinent questions, such as: How much warmer will it eventually get? How will sea level rise progress? What will happen to soil moisture, and therefore agricultural production in a warmer world? These are questions that will benefit everybody.
But, maybe Cruz just doesn’t get it. That, or he really does, but is just too much a puppet for his oil and gas puppet-masters back in Texas to say anything else on the matter. Still - If we can’t understand how our own planet works, how are we going to understand other worlds out in the solar system? This, you would think, would be common sense.
He made himself look like an even bigger idiot when he said:
Science needs to drive NASA’s mission, rather than the political winds of Washington.
Really!? What are you, then?
Ironically, he thought this was a good way to get across his message, but he’s forgetting that he, and other climate change deniers in Washington are the very same political winds that he speaks of.
Watch the Republican version of JFK’s Moon Speech:
H/T: Animal New York and Wikipedia | Featured Image: Combined Image
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