Why did we stop going to the Moon? Well, the short and most direct and correct answer is liberalism. The early stirrings of Wokism.
The miracle of Apollo, as envisioned by the great American Exceptionalist and anti-communist John F. Kennedy was to beat the Russians to the Moon, but also to go on to the planets and the stars. He said so often.
Which meant not just going to the Moon once but multiple times.
It has been fifty years since the last Apollo mission, named America for the command module and Challenger for the lunar module, landed and astronaut Gene Cernan took note of the last mission, saying, “We leave as we came, and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.”
Federal budget cutbacks by liberals in Congress eliminated Apollo 18, Apollo 19 and Apollo 20. All missions had audacious plans including landing on the dark side of the Moon.
So, liberals, in their borderline wisdom---just as we were perfecting missions into space including to the Moon---cancelled our program and severely cut NASA’s budget.
Liberals used---as they always use---the “priorities on Earth” argument. But fifty years later we still have the poor among us, we still have the homeless among us.
NASA then in the 70’s kick off one of the inanest space programs ever, called “Misson to Planet Earth.” It involved sending into space Skylab, which was essentially a giant grain silo where astronauts took more and more useless pictures of planet Earth, like some weekend tourists vising the Mall in Washington.
It was the ultimate in naval gazing.
They observed ants in space but in reality, the ants were probably watching the hapless astronauts instead.
The organization also changed it logo, from the retro but also inspirational blue one representing the best of Americanism to an antiseptic “NASA” as if it was a sign giving directions in a hospital ward.
Liberals were also to blame for the disastrous Columbia shuttle mission, when super frozen insulation smashed into the wing of the spacecraft, dooming the astronauts on reentry. Radical environmentalists had complained about the previous insulation, (which was safe) claiming it polluted the Everglades.
Fifty years of space exploration have been wasted because of liberals and their hatred of American Exceptionalism, but that “dark side of the Moon” false argument governing our space program are over.
A new dawn is breaking for America and our space program is finally back on track because of a new American Exceptionalist, Donald Trump. American patriotism is fashionable again because of Trump.
And we all feel happier again as we have left behind the dyspeptic era of Joe Biden, surely the worst president in American history.
Godspeed America! Godspeed our new astronauts!
Historian and Reagan biographer Craig Shirley is the author of Reagan's Revolution: The Untold Story of the Campaign That Started It All; Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign That Changed America; December 1941: 31 Days That Changed America and Saved the World; Last Act: The Final Years and Emerging Legacy of Ronald Reagan; Reagan Rising: The Decisive Years, 1976-1980; Citizen Newt: The Making of a Reagan Conservative; Mary Ball Washington: The Untold Story of George Washington's Mother; April 1945: The Hinge of History, as well as many articles and essays on politics and the conservative movement.
The miracle of Apollo, as envisioned by the great American Exceptionalist and anti-communist John F. Kennedy was to beat the Russians to the Moon, but also to go on to the planets and the stars. He said so often.
Which meant not just going to the Moon once but multiple times.
It has been fifty years since the last Apollo mission, named America for the command module and Challenger for the lunar module, landed and astronaut Gene Cernan took note of the last mission, saying, “We leave as we came, and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.”
Federal budget cutbacks by liberals in Congress eliminated Apollo 18, Apollo 19 and Apollo 20. All missions had audacious plans including landing on the dark side of the Moon.
So, liberals, in their borderline wisdom---just as we were perfecting missions into space including to the Moon---cancelled our program and severely cut NASA’s budget.
Liberals used---as they always use---the “priorities on Earth” argument. But fifty years later we still have the poor among us, we still have the homeless among us.
NASA then in the 70’s kick off one of the inanest space programs ever, called “Misson to Planet Earth.” It involved sending into space Skylab, which was essentially a giant grain silo where astronauts took more and more useless pictures of planet Earth, like some weekend tourists vising the Mall in Washington.
It was the ultimate in naval gazing.
They observed ants in space but in reality, the ants were probably watching the hapless astronauts instead.
The organization also changed it logo, from the retro but also inspirational blue one representing the best of Americanism to an antiseptic “NASA” as if it was a sign giving directions in a hospital ward.
Liberals were also to blame for the disastrous Columbia shuttle mission, when super frozen insulation smashed into the wing of the spacecraft, dooming the astronauts on reentry. Radical environmentalists had complained about the previous insulation, (which was safe) claiming it polluted the Everglades.
Fifty years of space exploration have been wasted because of liberals and their hatred of American Exceptionalism, but that “dark side of the Moon” false argument governing our space program are over.
A new dawn is breaking for America and our space program is finally back on track because of a new American Exceptionalist, Donald Trump. American patriotism is fashionable again because of Trump.
And we all feel happier again as we have left behind the dyspeptic era of Joe Biden, surely the worst president in American history.
Godspeed America! Godspeed our new astronauts!
Historian and Reagan biographer Craig Shirley is the author of Reagan's Revolution: The Untold Story of the Campaign That Started It All; Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign That Changed America; December 1941: 31 Days That Changed America and Saved the World; Last Act: The Final Years and Emerging Legacy of Ronald Reagan; Reagan Rising: The Decisive Years, 1976-1980; Citizen Newt: The Making of a Reagan Conservative; Mary Ball Washington: The Untold Story of George Washington's Mother; April 1945: The Hinge of History, as well as many articles and essays on politics and the conservative movement.
