Source: The Houston Chronicle
It was during long flights to the Middle East for goodwill visits to American troops that former astronauts Neil Armstrong, Eugene Cernan and James Lovell hatched a plan to step out of the pages of history with a mission to change its course once more.
The carefully calculated decision in March has brought two of the three marquee space pioneers to the halls of Capitol Hill to publicly — and politically — challenge President Barack Obama’s plan to scrap the nation’s back-to-the-moon program.
“Some question why America should return to the moon. After all, they say, ‘We have already been there,’ ” Armstrong said. “I find that mystifying. It would be as if 16th century monarchs proclaimed that we need not go to the New World, we have already been there.”
Armstrong, the first man to step on the moon, in 1969, and Cernan, the last to leave, in 1972, abandoned their long-standing aversion to political controversy to pointedly challenge key aspects of Obama’s vision for NASA.
Rare public appearance
Wednesday, the two men appeared before the House Committee on Science and Technology.
For Armstrong, Wednesday’s testimony was a rare public appearance by an enigmatic aviation hero who has tried to avoid the limelight in much the same way that Charles Lindbergh shunned publicity after becoming the first aviator to cross the Atlantic nonstop in 1927.
“They are both pilots who loved to fly and saw their careers get all out of whack because of where their flights took them,” says Auburn University historian James Hansen, author of Armstrong’s authorized biography, First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong.
“Obviously Neil does not make it a standard practice to speak out on much of anything,” Hansen said. “He is speaking out now because this is something that he knows about — and something that he deeply cares about.”
Once inspired by John F. Kennedy’s declaration to reach the moon by the end of the 1960s, Armstrong, now 79, and Cernan, 76, are working with a group of lawmakers to persuade Obama and uncommitted members of Congress to preserve their legacy and continue NASA’s program to returns humans to the moon by 2020.
“A thousand years from now no one in this room will be remembered, no one in this town will be remembered — except for you,” Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, told Armstrong.
‘Eloquent verbiage’
In their second congressional appearance in three weeks, Armstrong and Cernan ratcheted up their criticism of Obama’s plan
Returning to the moon would serve as a stepping stone for the deep space exploration to asteroids and Mars sought by Obama, enabling astronauts to hone survival skills, investigate scientific opportunities and extract lunar materials, Armstrong insisted.
Cernan was more acerbic, dubbing Obama’s description of the administration’s vision for space exploration “eloquent verbiage” and adding: “Now is the time to overrule this administration’s pledge to mediocrity.”
The prominent role by Armstrong and Cernan has prompted the Obama administration to showcase astronauts who support his plan to end the moon quest in favor of fostering commercial spacecraft, increasing earth science missions and extending space station operations.
Buzz Aldrin, who accompanied Armstrong to the surface of the moon in 1969, has become a prominent advocate for Obama, who points to Aldrin as a sign of astronaut support.
“The idea of warring astronauts is a little sad to those of us in the space community who tend to view these people as icons,” said space historian John Logsdon, author of Decision to Go to the Moon: Apollo Project and the National Interest. “But it’s not any different from any other public policy debate where smart people can have very different views.”
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