How to Garner Support for NASA

During the 1960s, President John F. Kennedy knew that he had to get Americans to the moon somehow. It was a matter of superiority over the Soviets. It was a matter of national pride. After Kennedy's assassination, it was a matter of memorializing the President's goals. So how can we inspire Americans to support NASA today?

On January 14, 2004, President George W. Bush gave a speech presenting his vision for future United States space travel. In his attempt to garner support for NASA, he focused mostly on the scientific advancements that Americans have achieved by traveling into space. He also announced several goals, including finishing the International Space Station and returning to the moon by 2020. Although, he did mention the inherent desire to explore space: "Mankind is drawn to the heavens for the same reason we were once drawn into unknown lands and across the open sea. We choose to explore space because doing so improves our lives, and lifts our national spirit. So let us continue the journey." However, I think that it will take more than forming goals and reiterating all the benefits of the human spaceflight program to encourage support for NASA.

According to an October 30, 2009 Newsweek article, "If Obama wants to send us even farther into space than JFK did, he'll need to capture our imaginations: to enchant us with fresh visions of what we'll find out there... a special role falls to the people in the imagination business: our creative artists. This doesn't mean that writers and filmmakers should propagandize on behalf of rocket-fuel appropriations, only that when they do great work about space... they refocus the public eye heavenward."

Americans are very driven by our culture and the media, and if we want to travel to the moon and beyond, it is important that NASA be presented in a positive manner, one that encourages us, just as Robert Goddard was encouraged by reading Jules Verne's books.

Also, we all have to do our part to support one another: "For the space program to achieve and sustain the public support it needs, it won't be enough for Obama to be his inspiring self, or for artists to enchant us with visions of life on Mars—NASA itself needs to help the public grasp that sending human consciousness 40 million miles into space can be its own mesmerizing reward."

The key word is mesmerizing. In today's society, that's what it takes to continue sending humans into space because we are driven by emotional experiences. Americans need to feel mesmerized, deep down in their hearts.

Read the transcript of President George W. Bush's speech about his vision for future space travel.

Read the entire Newsweek article here.