Washington, Mar 7, 2007 - America’s space program traces its roots to the beginning of aviation – the first powered flights of Orville and Wilbur Wright.  The Wright brothers were driven by the most American of qualities: the passion to create, invent, explore, and understand our world. Sixty years after that hallmark event of American history, the first human was launched into space.  Only this time, it was not the United States but the Soviet Union leading the way.  The race to control the final frontier began with the U.S. at a strategic disadvantage.  

President Kennedy understood the importance of a manned space program to our national prestige and our status as a world power.  Thanks to his leadership, the U.S. aggressively pursued human space flight, beat the Russians to the moon, and regained the strategic advantage.  For nearly 40 years, the U.S. has been the undisputed world leader in space.  

That leadership is now threatened, and the future of space exploration stands at a critical crossroads.  We are retiring the aging Shuttle Fleet in 2010.  In its place, we have begun moving forward with Constellation, the next generation manned space program, with plans of it being operational by 2014.  And Congress adopted the 2004 Vision for Space Exploration by a vote of 383-15 – setting the goal of returning to the moon by 2020.  

Unfortunately, the FY2007 Omnibus approved last month cut the Constellation program by $577 million.  Already, this cut is having ramifications on the program.  Several hundred individuals working on America’s next space vehicle are being laid off, and the first launch date has been delayed at least six months.  A cut of this magnitude at the outset of a new program will take years to fully recoup and will translate into increased costs.

I believe this funding cut to our human space exploration budget is incredibly shortsighted. Absent more robust congressional support for future manned space missions to the moon and beyond, the U.S. will soon be at a commercial and military disadvantage viz-a-viz countries like China.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Commercially, reneging on our commitment to human spaceflight will likely hand opportunities yet undiscovered to our competitors. We know the moon contains key resources that could potentially be tapped for commercial development. Vast amounts of hydrogen and helium-3, for instance, exist on the moon.  Both are potential sources of clean power that could be extracted to one day help meet our energy needs.  In fact, the moon contains enough helium-3, a non-pollutant energy source, to power the world for thousands of years, and scientists are increasingly optimistic about our ability to tap into this energy – a fact not lost on Russia and China, two countries chipping away at U.S. space leadership.  According to China’s chief lunar scientist, “Whoever first conquers the moon will benefit [from Helium-3 energy] first.”

And, the fact remains that we still don’t know all the minerals that may exist on the moon, let alone the commercial applications that further exploration might one day yield.  But then again, did the Wright Brothers know in 1903 that their invention would lead to an aerospace industry that employs over 1,000,0000 Americans, is crucial to our economic vitality, and is our nation’s largest export sector?

Even more importantly, under-funding our manned space program will have consequences militarily.  In war terms, the moon amounts to the strategic “high ground” from which a country could gain an unprecedented level of asymmetric military advantage.  Even now, the U.S. relies heavily on space satellites for communications, intelligence, and command and control in global hotspots like Afghanistan and Iraq.  Our superiority in space has allowed us to successfully use these commercial satellites with little fear of interference from other actors.  Unfortunately, this is changing, and our national and economic security are in jeopardy.  

Last month, China played target practice with one of its own satellites and recently attempted to blind one of our satellites.  China’s plea of non-aggression is not reassuring given its bold commitment to develop weaponry to rival the current U.S. space dominance.  What happens if China, whose space program is military rather than civilian, establishes military outposts on the moon from which it could more easily disrupt U.S. satellites and launch asymmetric warfare?  Our failure to put Constellation back on track will cede the strategic “high ground” to China, which is planning to put a human on the moon by 2024 and possibly earlier.

While Russia, China, and India are redoubling their human space efforts, the new leadership in Congress has put our manned space program on the back burner of national priorities.  Reneging on our commitment to global leadership in human space flight will have short-term and long-term consequences. If the U.S. leaves the untold possibilities of exploration and discovery to its strategic competitors, those consequences will one day threaten our national and economic security.