Explaining Space Exploration

Lessons for the future of human space flight, Wes Huntress, SpaceReview

"Sixth, the rationale for the program must be articulated for the public. A question from the very first public commenter at the Committee's opening meeting hit the mark. "NASA's focus is on engineering and vehicles. There has been no explanation of what we are going to do when we get there. What's the plan and are we going beyond the Moon? You won't get public interest and sustain it until we know these things." NASA has proven itself technically competent but publicly impotent in spite of many studies internal and external that have articulated the imperatives for exploring space. Ironically, the administration's 2004 Vision for Space Exploration did it quite well in very few words. The Committee would serve the nation and its space program well by expressing these imperatives for the public and its representatives in the Congress and the administration."