He might've made the case that he's restoring the old June croon spoon moon to the realm of folklore, magic and literature, and that the human race can't risk despoiling such a wondrous thing as the moon, as we've despoiled so much of the earth. I might not agree, but it's an argument I could respect.
Or he might've suggested technology will leap-frog any benefits a way-station on the moon might provide. Maybe technology will render a moon base irrelevant. I'm willing to be convinced of this as well.
He could've made the case that we're better off leaving the moon to private enterprise. Obama did state that "in order to reach the space station, we will work with a growing array of private companies competing to make getting to space easier and more affordable." If he meant to imply that we'd also rely on private enterprise to return us to the moon, a quarter-million miles more distant than the space station, he should've said so. Demonstrably, the moon's a mighty big subject, and a relatively big piece of the local cosmos. It's too big to toss off with a shrug and been there, done that....
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Or he might've suggested technology will leap-frog any benefits a way-station on the moon might provide. Maybe technology will render a moon base irrelevant. I'm willing to be convinced of this as well.
He could've made the case that we're better off leaving the moon to private enterprise. Obama did state that "in order to reach the space station, we will work with a growing array of private companies competing to make getting to space easier and more affordable." If he meant to imply that we'd also rely on private enterprise to return us to the moon, a quarter-million miles more distant than the space station, he should've said so. Demonstrably, the moon's a mighty big subject, and a relatively big piece of the local cosmos. It's too big to toss off with a shrug and been there, done that....
To support this and other columns by Don Williams with a donation, click on https://http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=8466358.
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