Happy 50th NASA!

On July 29th, 1958, NASA was established with the passage of the National Aeronautics and Space Act. From its humble beginnings, less than 11 years later, it put the first men on the Moon.

I have mixed feelings about NASA (as does everyone I talk to in my circles). NASA has done a lot of great things: the Moon landings and Hubble are two very high profile projects. But we have to remember the strength of the unmanned program as well including Voyagers, Pioneers, Mariners, Viking, the Mars rovers, Galileo, Cassini, Swift, GLAST, Chandra, the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory and the Spitzer Space Telescope to name a few.

The Space Shuttle is a real mixed bag. It was very overpromised and underfunded in its design phase and lots of compromises were made. Same thing with the International Space Station. Both had so much more potential but politics and funding held them back. These high profile manned projects have an ongoing conflict with unmanned projects that produce more science per dollar.

Many people criticize NASA for how much it spends without realizing how small its budget is in reality. NASA receives less than 1% of the federal budget. Many people are surprised it is that low.

As we begin the next 50 years, NASA is preparing to retire the shuttle and shoot for the Moon again. There will be several years between the end of the shuttle program and our new rockets being ready to fly. We will have to rely on other nations to supply the ISS and ferry astronauts back and forth. NASA has been asked to go to the Moon and given little extra money to do it. Science could suffer if things do not improve.

At some point, I believe NASA has a chance at a second set of glory days, but its going to take another Sputnik like event, most likely the Chinese beating us back to the Moon. Then we may decide leadership in space is important again.

So Happy Birthday NASA and good luck!