Deep Sixing Outer Space

THOSE OF A CERTAIN AGE will remember that in the nineteen sixties the United States was plunging head long and ever upward into outer space, with high hopes for future space flight. Then public interest waned, funding dried up, the bill for the Viet Nam war came due, and we (America) ended up with the space shuttle, and a dead end. The Russians, meanwhile, bless their socialistic hearts, kept right on going, and even as we speak, they have a fine rocket engine, the DM-180 they call it, which takes cargo, including American cargo, into space all the time. Each rocket engine costs thirty million dollars, and the United States uses Russian rockets to launch its satellites, including spy satellites, into orbit, because it has no rocket engine of its own. Now, there is interest in the U.S. actually purchasing some of these rocket engines from the Russians, and an acrimonious debate about the whole topic is underway in political circles. Senator John McCain thinks its very dangerous to maintain this dependency on our enemy. When Russia launches one of America's spy satellites into space, how do we know that they aren't stealing information off of it at the same time? Well, we don't. Hence, the uproar in congress. The United States has nobody to but itself to blame for this predicament. First, it was obviously a mistake to end the American space program with only a dead end space shuttle, with no other long range plans or goals. Secondly, it was a mistake to make an enemy out of the former Soviet Union. Neither was unavoidable. But why not cooperate with the Russians, and others, in outer space? Countries such as India and China already have their own plans; working together would be considerably less expensive for all concerned. But don't hold your breath; the United States will undoubtedly find a way to make sure this never happens.