Op-ed:

American exceptionalism in space is back!

By: Diane Sori

On Monday, August 6^th, at 1:24 a.m. EST, American exceptionalism in space was returned to her when NASA's Mars Science Laboratory carrying the Curiosity rover, the  most advanced  mobile laboratory ever sent to another planet, entered the Martian atmosphere, successfully touching down at 1:32 a.m. EST.  Within moments, Curiosity beamed back its first three images from the Martian surface, one of them showing a wheel of the vehicle and the other showing Curiosity's shadow cast on the rocky terrain.  These pictures were in black and white, shot by low-resolution navigation cameras mounted on Curiosity’s chassis. 

And what a feat it was as I applauded and cried with joy right along with the scientists at Mission Control’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, because for me, as some know, our return to space exploration is personal.  This single feat culminating in these amazing photos from the Martian surface, shows that no matter how hard Obama and his administration try to kill our country’s spirit of exploration, American ingenuity, dedication, and determination, the very essence of exceptionalism, will triumph over all obstacles thrown in her way.

"This feat that you saw tonight is something that only the United States of America can do. And the rover is made in the USA,” said John Grunsfeld, Associate Administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

How right he is.

And this mission’s success, against all odds, proves just that.  This textbook perfect landing was a major achievement for NASA, especially with all the current Obama initiated budget cuts to their funding, the recent end of our space shuttle program, and Obama’s cancelation of Constellation, the program that would have taken us back to the moon and included the Ares rocket, the replacement for the space shuttle.  And here’s the worst part, Obama plans another $300 million in cuts to our planetary sciences program in 2013.

How I hate that man, as the monies cut from NASA’a budget are funneled into his freebies and handout programs so he can make good on his monetary promises given in payment for votes...but I digress.

Curiosity is NASA's first astrobiology mission since the Viking probes started their search for life back in the 1970’s.  In fact, Curiosity really is an uber high tech chemistry set on wheels, complete with cameras and gadgets galore.  After touching down near the base of Aerolis Mons (known as Mount Sharp) in Gale Crater (chosen because there appears to be sediments rising from the crater's floor which appear uncannily similar to those seen in Death Valley and Glacier National Park), Curiosity will start on its two year mission to look for evidence that Mars may have once had the basic building blocks necessary for microbial life, those being water, a source of energy, and carbonaceous (resembling or containing carbon) compounds, sometimes referred to as the primordial soup.  Also, these findings will help determine if man can ever live on Mars.

But Curiosity’s two year mission can go on much longer as Opportunity, which landed on Mars in 2004, is still going strong even though her sister rover, Spirit, stopped working in 2010.  Both were only supposed to work for 90 days.  Talk about American know-how and ingenuity!

And that’s the bottom line... American ingenuity knows no bounds except for those put on not only imagination but on the quest for knowledge through exploration.  If man stops exploring, especially in reaching for the stars, man will stagnate and grow complacent, and that will be our downfall for complacency breeds contempt and contempt destroys exceptionalism.  Barack Hussein Obama’s contempt of all things that make America great, whether it be in space or here on Earth, is a perfect example of contempt run amok.

For NASA’s future and our own, as always, November 6^th can’t come fast enough.