University of Virginia Library

NASA Germane With Its Goals

By PHILLIP KRASTMAN

(A first year Electrical Engineering student, Mr. Krastman
represented the University at the launching of Apollo 17. His
all-expense paid trip was won at the International Science and
Engineering Fair of last year for his project entitled "Single Order
Bragg Diffraction of Laser Light In An Isotropic Medium."–Ed.)

Now that Apollo 17 is safely on the moon and earth scientists
are living and working on the surface of another planetary body,
we must all ask ourselves the question: is the space program in
general worth what it costs achieve these feats?

In other words, is the cost effective product of all our work
and aspirations truly what we as rational human beings want?

A lot of people, and I am no exception, doubted the reasons
for NASA putting on such big public displays of certain of their,
or may I say our, achievements. NASA (as an agency of our govt.)
spends billions of dollars on far reaching goals like putting men
on the moon while people are starving from lack of food even in
our own country.

We begin to ask ourselves, is this justifiable? From what I have
seen NASA has truly been holding firm to its sole purpose which
is, "the exploration of space for the benefit of all mankind." After
carefully examining the work of NASA chiefly from its top
officials at the launch last week from Cape Kennedy, Fla., I began
to see that the space program's prime objective is not to spread
the cancer we call mankind throughout the universe.

I believe that NASA's prime direction is in helping people
explore their true humane inner hopes and aspirations. NASA
simply does not neglect the earth and its resources as we are so
likely to condemn the agency for doing. I did not notice any
grand-scale pollution being given off at Kennedy Space Flight

Center, McCloud Assembly
Plant, Goddard Space Flight
Center, nor at other NASA
centers I visited. In fact these
places are wildlife sanctuaries.

We might tend to say that
these centers are supported by
polluting industries but again I
have not seen any NASA
contracted work other than
nuclear rocket testing (which is
closely guarded and contained,
and electric power
consumption used by these
industries to be any major
environmental hazard.

On the other hand, satellites
that speed our communications
networks are solar powered as
well as nuclear powered. Some

direct NASA achievements based on space research are
heart pacers and their nuclear batteries. Looking at what our
nation spends to wage war and generate bureaucratic waste, we
can all agree that the small percentage of our national product
that goes to NASA is well worth the investment we are making in
our future.

We might agree that, yes, money should go to research on
human problems but we might question where NASA spends this
money. From what I have seen, NASA is doing a great deal of
work on the mechanical aspects of our technology while it also
seeks to explore "people problems" in the process. The
exploration of the human environment in total perspective from
out in space is important if we
are going to make best and
wise use of our resources.

The challenge exists, but
adventurers alone do not bring
about improvements in living
standards and values. NASA is
engineering, and engineers
systematize and quantitatively
investigate the problems of
mankind's physical existence.
Two of the most prominent
and successful examples of
NASA's advances in these areas
are represented in the
foundations of what we call
modern medicine, and in
meteorology which includes
agriculture.

Certainly and undeniably
NASA proves to be an
important and productive
bureau of our Government and
it well deserves our
whole-hearted support.