President Obama’s stated new mission for NASA is just plain lunar tunes.
NASA’s new mission, according to Charles Boldon, administrator of the space agency, in an interview with Al Jazeera: improve relations with Muslims around the world. Part of this, Bolden said, was to make Muslims feel better about their past scientific achievements. Does this mean self-esteem programs for Muslims?
NASA is an institution that particularly expresses American drive and ambition-it was started in the Eisenhower administration as a response to the Russian Sputnik. It represents going to the moon and the American spirit of achievement. The underlying message in its founding was, “We Americans can do anything.” It was a quintessentially American endeavor.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anything so disheartening and absurd. Charles Krauthammer called it a “new height in fatuousness:”
“This is a new height in fatuousness. NASA was established to get America into space and to keep is there. This idea to feel good about their past and to make achievements is the worst combination of group therapy, psychobabble, imperial condescension and adolescent diplomacy.”