On Monday, China launched a lunar probe that will land on the moon. The nation’s first attempt was welcomed with national excitement and pride. The launch came shortly after the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s death. Over the last several weeks, there has been debate over the effectiveness of President Kennedy’s administration and his external escapades; few have questioned the former president’s ability to inspire the American people 50 years after his death.
At the center of the inspiration he created was his determination to land a man on the moon. On Sept. 12, 1962, at Rice University, President Kennedy spoke about sending a man to the moon. “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”
When President Kennedy first proposed sending a man to the moon in his 1961 State of the Union Address, many doubted it could be done by the end of the decade. Humungous technological gains would be needed and Congress would have to substantially invest in NASA in order to do so. Yet, American ingenuity and hard work paid off. In 1969, just before the end of the decade, the U.S. sent a man to the moon.
Today, instead of investing in NASA, NASA’s budget is getting cut. The House of Representatives’ NASA appropriations budget for 2014 is $1.2 billion less than it was in 2012. At a time when the economy is demanding more workers with science, technology, engineering and mathematics degrees, confidence in America’s economic outlook is gloomy, and some question whether America’s best days are behind. So, sending a man to Mars and back would be a sound policy to counter that outlook.
In the ’60s, the thought of going to the moon and beyond inspired a generation to pursue science and engineering. During the following years, from announcing the decision to try to land a man on the moon to that accomplishment, America produced the most scientists and engineers in its history. For every dollar invested in the Apollo mission, $10 were put into the U.S. economy. Many of the technologies we take advantage of today such as the Internet and GPS can trace their beginnings to the Apollo mission.We do not have the technology to send a human to Mars, but should we follow President JFK’s footsteps by investing in NASA and letting American ingenuity lead the way, within a decade we could send an American to Mars and back. A mission to Mars would bear the same positive impacts of the Apollo mission by creating the next generation of American innovators and inspiring Americans for the next 50 years. What made President JFK so special is as Robert Dallek wrote in the New York Times, “memories of Kennedy continue to give the country faith that its better days are ahead.” Fifty years after his death, President Kennedy’s legacy still inspires us today because he showed how America could achieve the “impossible.” Americans knew their country’s best days were ahead of them. When we decided to stop pushing the limits of space, we stopped acting on that belief. It is time to send an American to Mars.
Alex is a junior majoring in political science, economics and environmental science. Do you agree we should send an American to Mars? Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
