The honor was all mine. Thank you for hosting us. https://t.co/fcnLdoV4uk
— Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) July 19, 2019
Being one of the first astronauts to walk on the moon, Buzz Aldrin has a lot under his belt. But 50 years later, he laments that NASA's program has become a "great disappointment". He says this to President Donald Trump in a press conference held at the Oval Office last Friday.
“Frankly, I’m a little disappointed in the last 10 to 15 years,” he told the president during an Oval Office press conference with Michael Collins, another Apolo 11 astronaut. “We were able to achieve so much early. Now we have the number one rocket right now in the U.S., and we have the number one spacecraft, and they cannot get into lunar orbit with significant maneuvering capability. And that’s a great disappointment to me.”
There are several possible reasons as to why Aldrin has made such criticism on the agency but it most likely comes down to financial support. Furthermore, NASA has been setting its eyes on some big goals in the coming years which would require a ton of funding, although whether the results are enough to justify the investments being made, we have yet to see.
(Image credit: Buzz Aldrin/Twitter)
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I'm old-ish. When Apollo 11 landed on the moon, I was 14. I grew up with Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo and remember how it felt to watch those steps into space. They were heady days for lots of folks. However, that excitement really didn't last. Part of the reason, in my opinion, for the end of interest in lunar landings and the associated manned space flights was a feeling of "Been there, Done that."How do you top a moon landing? Skylab? It was not exciting. The post Apollo years seemed ad-libed. We got some rockets--what do we do with them? The focus was gone. Also, people had a hard time seeing what they were getting for their money. I recall hearing plenty of people thinking NASA was a big money pit, sucking back tax dollars that could be used to fight poverty. Perhaps if NASA R&D was sold as economic investment in future technology which would pay benefits for consumers, the space program would have been easier to justify. In the end, I think things fell apart because there were no truly long term plans. Man in space soonest burned itself out.
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Do you blame him? NASA has been woefully underfunded for years. Between Republicans giving ridiculous tax breaks to the super-wealthy and grossly overspending on "defense," and Democrats demanding more money for domestic programs (many of which benefit enormously from NASA technology!), our space program has gotten the shaft.
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