President Bush has called for a three
percent increase in spending for
America's space agency, NASA. The
increase includes $3 billion to develop
the Orion space vehicle that NASA
considers a key to U.S. ambitions to
return to the Moon. The budget request
comes as NASA faces renewed questions
about its future.
A memorial service marking the 40th
anniversary of the 1967 Apollo 1
accident. A fire in the cockpit during a
routine test killed all three astronauts
onboard.
NASA's Space Operations chief, William
Gerstenmaier, says the agency continues
to learn from its mistakes. "We need to
keep looking for failures before they
occur. As we take our first steps back
to the Moon we should remember the
legacy of Apollo 1 – exploration is
worth taking risks, but not undue risks.
And so we must be diligent in our work
and in our imagination and in our
oversight".
But as NASA looks back at the Apollo 1
accident, it also is looking ahead to an
uncertain future.
The space agency is still trying to
recover from a three year delay in
shuttle flights following the 2003
Columbia disaster.
The orbiter disintegrated as it returned
to Earth -- the first accident since the
1986 Challenger explosion.
Astronaut Carl Walz blames the tragedy
on an attitude problem at NASA. "I think
maybe we just became complacent in
thinking that we were so successful
post-Challenger, that we had everything
licked. And I think that what we found
out was that this is still a very
dangerous business".
A dangerous and costly business. The
White House has requested a record $17.3
billion for NASA in 2008, while some
members of the U.S. Congress want to cut
spending. The legislature has trimmed
nearly $700 million from NASA's 2007
manned space program.
Experts also worry that the agency could
suffer from a shortage of first rate
talent.
William Potter from the Astronauts
Memorial Foundation says too few
Americans are interested in science.
"Many standardized tests indicate that
U.S. students are lagging behind in
their science and math skills. Many
universities are finding that foreign
students have a much greater enthusiasm
for math, science and engineering than
do U.S. students".
But NASA officials believe the problem
is not just a waning appetite for
science. They say the agency has lacked
direction for three decades, and NASA
Administrator Michael Griffin has even
described the shuttle program as a
"mistake".
The shuttle fleet will be retired in
2010, and four years later NASA plans to
launch a new type of spacecraft called
Orion.
NASA wants to resume manned flights to
the Moon by 2020 with the eventual goal
of reaching Mars.
The agency hopes
setting a goal, like President Kennedy's
target of a lunar landing by the end of
the 1960s, will re-energize the U.S.
space program.
And that excites former astronauts like
Duane Graveline. "I'm sure we're going
to do our research on Mars. We're going
to continue... we're a creature that
always studies, that is always looking
ahead in our studying."
The goal of putting a man on Mars is the
most ambitious target ever set for NASA.
A study from the University of Wisconsin
found the Apollo program cost the U.S.
taxpayer more than $60 billion in
today's money. A voyage to Mars will
cost a lot more. It is not at all clear
how much -- and it is not at all clear
there is a political will to pay the
bill.
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美国总统布什提出把美国航空航天局的经费增加3%，其中包括用于研发重新登上月球的新宇宙飞行器的30亿美元。在布什总统提出增加预算的同时，宇航局的前途再度受到关注。
美国宇航局为1967年发生的阿波罗一号意外事故举行了40周年纪念。在一次例行试验当中，阿波罗一号的驾驶舱突然起火，3名宇航员全部殉难。
宇航局航天工作负责人葛斯坦麦尔说，宇航局正在不断从过去汲取经验。他说：“我们必须要防患于未然。在我们开始准备重登月球的时候，我们应该记住阿波罗一号的教训，太空探索值得冒险，但是不值得做不必要的冒险，我们必须勤奋工作，充份发挥想像力，对一切情况做慎密的观察。”
宇航局一方面回顾阿波罗一号的意外事件，另一方面也要面对一个前途未卜的未来。自从哥伦比亚号航天飞机在2004年坠毁之后，宇航局的航天计划推迟了3年，目前还在设法恢复元气。哥伦比亚号在返回地球的时候分裂瓦解，造成1986年挑战者号爆炸以来的第一起意外事件。
宇航员瓦尔兹把这次的悲剧归咎于宇航局的态度问题。他说：“我想我们可能在挑战者号之后过于自满，以为已经成功地解决了一切问题，结果发现这仍然是一项非常危险的任务。”
这项任务不但危险，而且费用很高。白宫要求拨款173亿美元作为宇航局2008年的经费。有些美国国会议员却要削减宇航局的费用。宇航局的2007年航天计划经费被国会削减了将近7亿美元。专家还担心宇航局可能缺少第一流的人才。
宇航员纪念基金会主席鲍特说，对科学感兴趣的美国人太少。他说：“很多标准测试表明，在科学和数学方面，美国学生是落后的。很多大学发现，在学习数学、科学和工程学方面，外国学生要比美国学生更感兴趣。”
但是，宇航局的官员相信，问题并不仅仅是对科学缺乏兴趣。他们说：有30年的时间，宇航局失去了方向。宇航局局长葛里芬甚至于形容航天飞机计划是一项错误。航天飞机将在2010年停飞。宇航局计划4年之后发射新型的宇宙飞行器，然后在2020年以前恢复载人登月飞行，最后的目标是登上火星。
美国总统肯尼迪曾经宣布要在1960年代结束之前登上月球。现在宇航局希望像肯尼迪一样，确立一个目标，重新振兴美国的太空计划。包括格莱佛林在内的几位过去的宇航员对此感到兴奋。格莱佛林说：“我知道我们一定会到火星上去进行研究，我们会继续下去，我们天生就是要不断的研究，不断有新的展望。”
把人送上火星是宇航局到目前为止最具雄心的目标。根据美国威斯康辛大学的研究，美国纳税人为阿波罗计划负担的费用以目前的币值计算，超过600亿美元，如果要登上火星，费用更会高出很多，究竟需要多少，现在还不清楚，也不清楚是否有支付这笔费用的政治意愿。 |
