What will become of America’s space program?

During the turbulent 1960s, one of the last bastions of national pride in America was Project Apollo, our quest to put men on the Moon. The pride felt by that historic accomplishment is in short supply these days, but there was a fleeting moment of it last week when the Space Shuttle Enterprise arrived in New York City.

Enterprise was an atmospheric test shuttle that never actually went into space, but its triumphal flight up the Hudson River atop a 747 transport was a reminder of the Space Shuttle program that brought forth many great scientific and technical achievements. The program was not above controversy or even tragedy, but it was an undertaking that instilled national pride. Its end after three decades is nothing to be ashamed of; technology inevitably marches on. What is shameful is that there is no manned space vehicle to replace the Space Shuttle.

It is hard to be proud of a space program whose astronauts have to hitch rides into orbit with other countries. The Obama administration isn’t getting hung up on national pride, though. The president has consistently reduced NASA’s budget each year he has been in office. He also cancelled the Constellation project to replace the Space Shuttle, putting off indefinitely America’s return to the Moon and a manned trip to Mars.

It is reasonable to assume such grand projects would have to be scaled back in the current economic climate, but it’s not as if budget cutting at NASA will fix the government’s fiscal woes. The space agency’s funding as a share of the total federal budget in 2012 is one half of one percent, its lowest level since 1959. NASA is hardly the reason this country suffers trillion-dollar deficits. The president’s 2009 stimulus package alone would have funded the space agency at current levels for 43 years.

Obama calls for improving our economy through investment in technology, yet he ignores the contribution America’s space program has made in this realm for half a century. NASA has a long history of working closely with the private sector to translate its accomplishments into products and services for civilian use. The agency counts over 1,700 spinoff applications currently in use in the manufacturing, communications, and medical industries. This has been a far more economical and productive investment in the economy than enormous stimulus packages and green energy fiascos.

The economy will dominate this year’s presidential election, but the future of the space program needs to be part of that discussion. Enterprise’s final flight up the Hudson River was historic, but it also represents a Sputnik moment, to borrow Obama’s words. And it is a Sputnik moment of the president’s own making.

Presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney should publicly recognize the need for continued manned space exploration as part of achieving the better America he envisions. NASA engineers and scientists, along with a burgeoning private sector space industry, stand ready to commit resources to the complex missions that Obama chose to toss aside. Romney can provide the leadership they currently lack in order to move forward.

This nation’s status as a premier world power owes a great deal to the space program. It has aided in providing for our national defense, improved our lives through scientific and technical achievement, and it has been a symbol of national pride. A renewed commitment to space exploration will improve our economy, ensure our continued defense, and give America back some of that lost pride. The cost paid today would be insignificant next to the gains we can achieve tomorrow.

Richard Brownell writes extensively on American history and politics. He lives in New York City.