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Selected Articles from the
January 2000 Odyssey

Editor: Craig E. Ward

Goal for NASA Resolution
Long-Term Goal for NASA

Goal for NASA Resolution

By Marianne J. Dyson, NSS Board of Directors

Editors Note: The political campaign season is now upon us. What follows is a proposed resolution from NSS Board of Directors member Marianne Dyson for the Texas Republican Party. With minimal changes, it can work for the Republican, Democratic, or almost any party of any state. It is presented here in the hopes that it can spark discussions and actions with the political parties of California.

You can follow space-related developments in the 2000 Presidential Campaign on the NSS Campaign 2000 page.

NSS Members:

I made copies of the following resolution and distributed it to some of the Harris County Republican Executive Committee members last night. I put a letter at the top of the page - I've found most people do this - giving my reasons for submitting the resolution. When you introduce either this resolution or one like it, the letter part is basically your speech in favor of it. You can take some of the "speech" and make it into "Whereas's" also - but that much verbiage is not likely to get past the precinct level. My District Chairman suggested I get more statistics into the speech/Whereas part - so if any of you have the balance of trade numbers for aerospace, the number of jobs in Texas, etc. please pass them along. I'll check with NASA for some of those also. If any of you want to plagiarize my letter, feel free, but your listeners will respond best if you speak in your own words about why this is important.

While at the meeting, I signed up to help with the State nominating convention which will be in Houston June 15-17. They are looking for volunteers, so those of you who are Texas Republicans, please let me know if you want to work exhibits, security, registration, etc. I need to know right away because they are assigning committees now. Also, they are taking nominations for pages, ages 14 to 18. The pages have to be endorsed by a national committee member - if you get your nominations to me right away, I can pass them along. I am NOT on that committee, and I don't know if I can even wrangle my own kids in as pages, but there's nothing lost in trying! I think it will be pretty cool for them to meet Governor/potentially President Bush!

Dear Fellow Republicans:

Please consider introducing the resolution below at your precinct convention this March.

We Americans pride ourselves on being a pioneering people and a nation of leaders. Yet we have allowed our nation's aerospace industry - both military and civilian - to be cut to the bone. We have lost our lead in commercial launch services to our European competitors. Half of our aerospace workers have lost their jobs since 1989, and the average age of our engineers is now 49. Even with the end of the Cold War, the "high ground" is still strategically important, and also offers unlimited energy and mineral wealth. Without a strong US commitment to research, other nations will take the lead in the new technologies that will allow them to occupy and utilize that high ground in the future. Our graduate schools are already full of foreign students, our brightest children avoid engineering because there are few exciting jobs. NASA has recently lost several missions because they were forced to do them on a shoestring - a shoestring that broke.

I admit my opinion is biased. I used to work for NASA, and I don't like what is happening to my friends who work there now. NASA took on more than its share of budget cuts while maintaining safety, and was rewarded by more budget cuts. With no money for bonuses or promotions, and no new programs to inspire their creativity, NASA's most experienced people are leaving, and there are no young people being trained to take their places. For example, the scientists who discovered life in the Martian meteorite are reaching retirement age with no one to take over their work.

In 1999, the Chinese launched their first orbital rocket, and ironically, the US House voted to cut $1 billion from NASA's budget. This cut would have required closing NASA centers and ending cutting-edge research projects including shutting down the world's only deep-space ommunications network. Thankfully, the US Senate restored most of the cut, but short-sighted politicians still see NASA as an easy target. We must not let them prevail.

It is time for the Republican Party to stand up for our aerospace industry and give NASA a long range goal appropriate to the new century: opening the frontier to human settlement. This goal can be met without an increase in funding for NASA, although a 5% increase would help NASA recover from the expensive delays the Russians caused in the Space Station program. When generations look back to this time from their homes in space, they will not remember our health care or tax issues. But if we act now, they will remember that the United States was the nation that invested in the future and boldly settled the space frontier.

Marianne J. Dyson, Chairman, Precinct 744 Harris County, Texas; mjdyson@compuserve.com

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Long-Term Goal for NASA - A Resolution for the 2000 Platform

Whereas the International Space Station assembly is underway, and; American technical and scientific leadership would suffer if this highly trained and motivated workforce is disbanded; and, it is appropriate for a nation of pioneers to boldly lead the way into space at the start of a new century,

Therefore, the Republican Party requests that the Congress and President make a commitment to human space settlement as the long-term motivating goal for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). To implement this commitment, the Government should immediately:

Stabilize or increase the NASA budget to encourage hiring of young scientists and engineers and retention of NASA's cutting edge engineering and scientific teams;
Put a priority on design, testing, and reducing the risk of technologies needed for human space exploration and settlement on space stations, on the Moon, and on Mars. Key technologies include reusable and advanced rocket propulsion systems, closed life support systems, and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) equipment and robotics.
Encourage and continue governmental policies which support commercial efforts (such as a registry for property ownership, purchase of launches and data from the private sector, and support of space tourism) to create an infrastructure that would be conducive to human space settlements.