Neil Armstrong: U.S. Space Program Is 'Embarrassing' And Risks Losing Prominence

Perhaps the most famous astronaut of all time, Neil Armstrong, had some harsh words for the U.S. space program last week.

Testifying before Congress, Armstrong went as far as to call the nation's current space efforts "embarrassing and unacceptable," according to The Register. Armstrong, who became the first person to set foot on the moon in 1969, went on to detail NASA's dismal future, going as far as to say that without the ability to lead manned missions to space, the U.S. risks losing its leadership position in exploration.

"Our choices are to lead, to try to keep up, or to get out of the way. A lead, however earnestly and expensively won, once lost, is nearly impossible to regain," Armstrong said in the testimony.

You can read an abridged version of his testimony, here.

Armstrong went on to detail a number of programs NASA has either abandoned or bungled, highlighting a few he saw promise in. The aging astronaut also encouraged the government not to abandon low-orbit space projects, similar to the International Space Station that will likely come down by 2020.

But the arguments went beyond the hope to keep exploring. During his testimony, Armstrong also talked about how NASA's declining budget directly effects millions of Americans under its employment, and in related industries. Said Armstrong, according to a transcript of the testimony,

The Aircraft Industry Association reports Aerospace provides more than 600.000 skilled middle-class jobs and the industry supports more than 2 million middle class jobs and 30,000 suppliers from all 50 states. NASA and its supporting contractors employ hundreds of thousands of highly skilled engineers and technicians in 44 states

Armstrong wasn't the only one who testified in this manner either. Fellow astronaut Eugene Cernan also expressed his concern at the hearing according to The Register, simply saying, "Today we are on a path of decay."

In the past, Cernan, Armstrong and other astronaut have spoken out against the government's and, more specifically, President Obama's plans for space exploration. In April 2010 Armstrong and others made headlines after sending a statement to the AP and NBC condemning the President's decision to abandon a program that aimed to return a man to the moon.

WATCH RELATED VIDEO:

Comments

[theveggiedude]

04:46 PM on 09/30/2011

Neil Armstrong idea for a strong NASA means bigger government, which is in direct opposition to the Tea Party principles. Sorry, but in this climate, and economy, not going to happen.

[johnpet]

10:49 AM on 09/30/2011

I agree with Neil. We should be approaching "Star Trek" capability at this point with deep space exploration. We landed on the moon in '69. What have we accomplished since? Space Shuttle missions to see how plants behave with no gravity? Can't we conduct zero gravity experiments here? Yes, we can.

[TheReporter]

04:49 PM on 09/28/2011

There are so many ties into this its mind knumbing. NASA effects so many high tech jobs coast to coast its unreal. I've been reading responses and the sad part is that "we" everyday citizen's don't get it. Just like the people on Capital Hill don't get it. Politics and science SHOULD NOT MIX. That is the core problem. Its Bush's fault, no its Obama's fault, ugh garbage. Its both of there faults. NASA should have a set budget every year that increases overtime do to inflation. Congress shouldn't dictate how a rocket should be built, or how NASA spends its money. Appoint a true head of NASA and not a presidential puppet. (Charlie Bolden) The President can give NASA a goal, say MARS. Then step out of the way. There was once a president that did that, what was his name again, Kennedy thats right. NASA's current budget is less than .5% of the totally Federal Budget!!! Yet Obama says that we must do a better job educating our kids in science and math! I think the US might be able to give NASA more than .5 of a percent. It doesn't have to be like it was in the Apollo days when they had a blank check and there budget was 5.5% of the federal budget. But .5% is a joke. Remove the politics from NASA, give them a goal, and marvel at what America can accomplish.

[Koreboomer]

03:28 PM on 09/28/2011

Some of you should read Arthur C. Clarke's novels...he puts the 'science'
in science fiction, and lays out a near future (2040-2075) of Moon, Mars and asteroid colonization that's fascinating. Some of his ideas about propulsion and exploration are "out there," but firmly based on science.
We need government backing, but in Clarke's world, lots of OTHER governments have an interest.
To do our part in space exploration, new revenue is needed. Where does that come from? (hint: not tax cuts)

[Mondayboy]

03:00 PM on 09/28/2011

Our test flight to Mars (Afghanistan) was unsuccessful, so the politicians decided that it will be a bad idea to do the real trip.

[Richard Ruffner]

02:23 PM on 09/28/2011

That's my cousin! (by marriage).

[JABean]

01:58 PM on 09/28/2011

As usual, blame President Obama. The plans to gut NASA and turn further moon exploration was directly a result of GOP underfunding and Bush pushing it towards privatization. Obama arrived after all this was planned and executed. But don't let that logic get in the way of blaming him. That's what the GOP hates the most– logical thinking and decisions.

[Tomaniac]

12:52 PM on 09/28/2011

I think Neil is an American hero and respect his opinion, but I believe that the space program started loosing steam after our lofty goal of reaching the moon was accomplished. The ISS and space shuttle program never caught the attention of the public like going to the moon and when the Soviet Union started coming apart in the 80's, we lost the competitive nature that existed in the 60's that drove a lot of our space pride.

I actually think that NASA is on the right track for the future. Exploring with robots gives you a lot more bang for your buck with zero fatalities which can paralyze more expensive manned missions. With a transition to the private sector for low earth orbit ventures, NASA can spend more time developing deep space technology through robotic craft to allow for a safer transition to manned spaceflight with better defined objectives.

I also believe that NASA projects like the Hubble, Spitzer and other specialized space based telescopes have opened our eyes to the wonders of space like never before and am proud to be a tax paying US citizen when I see deep field photos from Hubble that shows billions of galaxies at the fringe of the universe that are able to be viewed by anyone in the world with a computer and a connection to the internet.

[AJ in ATL]

10:46 AM on 09/28/2011

The U.S. Space program has seen a major fall from grace and it is a complete embarresment to this country. We have not seen a manned mission to the moon in about 40 years now when if we had continued would have moonbases established there already. Considering the innovations that have come from our space program, we should never have retreated from our position as leader.

[Louis Tyson]

09:43 AM on 09/28/2011

I agree with Neil on that NASA is a shell of what it once was, but I honestly think we just need a new space program. NASA has already shown that its prime has long since past. We need a new, Global Space Program so that all those nations wanting to contribute to space exploration can contribute and all (or most) of the nations of the world can atleast agree on something.

[elblanc0]

11:35 AM on 09/28/2011

And we should call it...The Federation.

[Louis Tyson]

10:43 AM on 09/29/2011

Well... or just the ESP (Earth Space Program)

[pessword]

09:28 AM on 09/28/2011

The US is simply broke to lead in space exploration. Bad decisions by politicians are to blame for large debts and deficits.

[Victor Saymong]

08:46 AM on 09/28/2011

Mr. Armstrong is correct. US supremacy in space is history and will remain that way for a long time, unfortunately.

[nos2001]

07:12 AM on 09/28/2011

this plus the cutting in half our military is all obama.. evidently all his social programs are more important than our safety and security.

[Victor Saymong]

08:44 AM on 09/28/2011

It the US radically changed its foreign policies it might find more friends than enemies and thus not require a huge military.

[MtnGeek]

10:47 AM on 09/28/2011

The cuts to NASA predate Obama by decades. Stop trying to make everything a partisan issue, it hurts the dialog and is unproductive.

[Rendy Bee Mulyono]

01:49 AM on 09/28/2011

There's no point in going back to the moon, unless a near future moon colony is being considered. "just visiting" for the sake of nostalgia, space romance and "been there and done that and back again" is unacceptable and a huge waste of money. Besides, if anyone's hating science it's GOP, if anyone's cutting NASA budget, you can bet it's GOP too.

[nos2001]

07:14 AM on 09/28/2011

how many million do we have to pay russia to send anyone to the space station? i guess we are leaving space to them. sounds pretty dumb to me. obama priorities way out of line...

[Louis Tyson]

09:34 AM on 09/28/2011

I'm pretty sure not much on payment since we have been partners with Russia in space exploration since after the moon landings and we've sought to build new things while they can use all they originally developed without fail. (US: Invented special pen to write in space and space shuttle. Russia:Used a pencil and a perfected rocket design.)

[Tom95134]

12:00 AM on 09/28/2011

The Republicans are doing to the United States Space Program the same thing they are doing to the USPS. And, for the same reasons. Republicans are desperate to sell NASA and the USPS to private business because they know that there is potential for making significant amounts of money once it is out of the hands of the government and business can ratchet the charges up at will. Many of the pieces of advanced technology we use today in everyday life came out of the space program and companies have been able to license these at reasonable costs. But, what some companies really want to do is grab the patents and corner the market so they can charge as much as the traffic will bare.

Look around and check out which political party is pushing to limit the space program. Look around to see which party is pushing to sell the space program to private business. Yup, it is the same party that is pushing to sell the USPS to one of the major package delivery services... THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

[nos2001]

07:15 AM on 09/28/2011

name anything the gov does well.

[spacer1966]

09:34 AM on 09/28/2011

Since you only wanted one:

http://marsrover.nasa.gov/home/index.html

[theveggiedude]

04:52 PM on 09/30/2011

The government does tons of things well. The entire Apollo project for one. The military is the best in the world. The cops and firefighters are pretty good too. And the postal service was set up as a public service (like police and fire fighters), not a for profit institution, and did it well for two centuries until the Republicans changed its manifesto in the 80's.