We may not be going to the moon anymore, but NASA is not finished exploring the universe.
The space agency is working on the James Webb Space Telescope, which can see clearer and further into the universe than its predecessor, the Hubble telescope.
The telescope is costly, as most new technologies are, and has gone over budget by $1.5 billion.
Now Congress is looking at pulling the plug on the new telescope in the new budget plan for NASA, which cuts funding in all areas of NASA, but in particular calls for the cancellation of the James Web telescope.
One and a half billion dollars seems like a lot of money, but cutting one week off the Afghanistan war would save the U.S. much more than the total cost of the telescope.
So why is Congress going to cut this telescope? According to NASA, this telescope is 100 times more powerful than Hubble, and has the potential to see all the way back to the beginning of the universe. The scientific potential is almost limitless.
But Congress doesn't see it that way. The telescope is expensive, yes, but it is on the cutting edge of space technology. It is good value for money. But that's not what the budget committee sees.
The people in charge of this country do not see the potential this telescope has to teach us about our universe, and in turn ourselves.
Our very beginnings, the start of life is within the scope of this telescope, but it's a little pricey and Congress just isn't willing to spend that money. They'd rather spend it on tax cuts for corporate jet owners and pointless quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan.
What happened to the America of yesteryear? I hate to be nostalgic, and the people who clamor for a return to the invented, perfect, white-picket-fence, fifties’ America make me nauseous, but seriously.
What happened to Pres. John F. Kennedy's rationale for ambitious space travel?
“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,” Kennedy said in an address delivered in 1962.
What happened to the U.S. being on the cutting edge of technology, of actually producing something tangible and useful?
It left us, along with reasonable political discourse and compromise in Congress.
The focus in Washington has shifted to political bickering, wars and cutting funding for programs just to save a quick buck.
The recently concluded debt ceiling debacle is the new focus of America. All we seem to be able to do as a country is argue amongst ourselves. America used to be on the cutting edge of technology — space race included — but now we have fallen behind countries like China and India.
The World Intellectual Property Organization released a 2007 study that showed Japan edging in front of the U.S., and that only half of U.S. patent requests actually come from U.S. resident companies or individuals.
Congress needs to get its priorities in order. Funding two lengthy wars is not the best way to spend our money. Fifty nine percent of Americans want the troops to come home, according to a Pew Research Center Poll. Cutting funding for the war instead of NASA would not be unpopular.
It is time to refocus.
Reach the columnist at omcquarr@asu.edu
