LOST IN SPACE – AT 8:38 A.M. ET:  We haven't discussed this enough.  The Obama administration's space exploration policy, and budget, show complete contempt for the dreamers, explorers and scientists who have been so inspiring to Americans in the last half century.

Now, some of America's best-known spacemen, and its most famous astronaut, are speaking out in protest.  I don't know how much attention they'll get in the world of Obama, including its journalistic adjunct.  The left has never been especially interested in the space program, which doesn't have the label "entitlement attached.  From NBC News:

The first man to walk on the moon blasted President Barack Obama’s decision to cancel NASA’s back-to-the-moon program on Tuesday, saying that the move is “devastating” to America’s space effort.

Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong’s open letter was also signed by Apollo 17 commander Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon; and Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell, who is marking the 40th anniversary of his famous lunar non-landing this week.

The letter was released to NBC News just two days in advance of Obama’s trip to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a space policy summit. Obama is expected to flesh out his vision for the space agency's future during his speech at the summit.

And...

Canceling Constellation could lead to thousands of layoffs at some of America's biggest aerospace contractors, including Lockheed Martin, the Boeing Co. and ATK. Such job losses are among the factors behind congressional opposition to the cancellation. Armstrong and his fellow astronauts emphasize the bigger implications, however, and say in their letter that the decision would put the nation on a "long downhill slide to mediocrity."

What's wrong with mediocrity?  This administration sponsors it every day.

"For the United States, the leading spacefaring nation for nearly half a century, to be without carriage to low Earth orbit and with no human exploration capability to go beyond Earth orbit for an indeterminate time into the future, destines our nation to become one of second- or even third-rate stature," they said in the letter.

QUOTE:  This should be taken very seriously.  Like many Obama policies, the space program has "sleeper" features.  The losses that Armstrong and his colleagues warn about won't be obvious for years.  Once they become clear, there will be nothing we can do. 

April 14, 2010