The Decline of Our Space Program
This was originally published on 3/21/26 at gaylonkent.net.
USA! USA!: Recently in this space, we wrote that our country is a shell of what it used to be, citing our space program as a prime example. We noted, among other things, the recent delays in the Artemis program and that we haven’t put anyone past low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 returned to Earth in 1972.
Numbers Racket: Thinking about this got us curious about some numbers. From the time President Kennedy said “Let’s go to the Moon” in an address to Congress on May 25, 1961, until Apollo 11 landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969, 2,979 days passed. During that time, NASA set 17 manned missions into space, those 17 missions responsible for some of our species’ finest hours.
Fly In The Ointment: The Artemis program was established on December 11, 2017, when President Trump signed Space Policy Directive 1. In the 3,022 days since, Artemis has flown once, an unmanned mission around the Moon. It flew in 2022, six years behind schedule. That one mission is responsible for reminding us exactly how far the mighty have fallen. Good gravy, eight-and-a-quarter years and only one flight. A team of determined Girl Scouts probably could’ve done that.
More Fly In The Ointment: Why are we having such trouble going back to the Moon? Well, three-quarters of American kids are either too fat or too dumb to qualify for military service, and that malaise permeates all other aspects of our American experience. Now in our seventh decade of TV and fast food being focal points of American life, we are, collectively, too well-fed and too well-entertained to bother with anything of substance. Our president, a man of no moral or intellectual substance, is a prime example of that, and one mission in eight years is another. We are simply not as bright nor as determined as we used to be.
The Bottom Line: Of course, we have no idea what goes on at NASA, but you do not have to be Neil Armstrong to strongly suspect the culture is not good. It being a government organization lacking the vision of NASA from 60 years ago, there is probably a lot of covering one’s arse going on, with no one person taking charge and committees running things. We’re the worst for it. Instead of an America showing the way, of an America looking back at 40 years of having humans on Mars, we can’t even get to the Moon anymore. The mighty have fallen.
Thank you for reading,
