Houston Chronicle By Alex Stuckey May 2, 2019
The legends of the Apollo era get the same far-off look of wonder and amazement in thinking back 50 years to the July 20, 1969 moon landing. They even use the same words to describe it.
Suspenseful. Incredible. Wonderful.
And they largely have the same dim view of the direction NASA is headed today.
Former astronauts, flight directors and administrators who lived through NASA's golden years of putting men on the moon say the NASA of today barely resembles the fledgling space agency that they lived for. It was an organization that made tough decisions with speed and finesse, that flew by the seat of its pants and learned at breakneck speed, with a reputation for good leadership and trust among the ranks.
Now, they see an agency plagued by inadequate budgets, where missions change with each presidential administration. Their beloved NASA, they say, is at the mercy of politicians who are afraid of taking risks for the betterment of society.
"I'm not the only one of us who says this, but I feel fortunate to have lived when I did," Apollo 7 astronaut Walt Cunningham told the Houston Chronicle in April.
They're frustrated by the nation's lack of progress.
"It seems to have been just fits and starts in the last 50 years since Apollo 11," said Glynn Lunney, a former mission control flight director who was on duty at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston during the moon landing. "What do we have to show for it? The space station, sure. But what else?"
'Flailing for 25 years'
Soon after the Apollo 11 astronauts returned home from the first mission to the lunar surface, NASA personnel began planning for a future in which human space exploration was commonplace.
They dreamed of a module much like the space station orbiting the moon by 1978, a 50-man station orbiting Earth by 1980, a lunar surface base that same year. They even had detailed plans of landing humans on Mars by 1983.
The plans seemed feasible at the time because the Apollo lunar surface missions — there were nine more planned after Apollo 11 — were expected to lay the groundwork for a base on the moon.
But instead, personnel watched helplessly as the Apollo program they built was shuttered before its time, its moon missions axed from the agency's plans. Apollo's budget was slashed in half in 1971, receiving less than $1 billion for the first time in eight years. The 1972 Apollo 17 flight was to be the last.
More:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/space/mission-moon/article/NASA-is-stalled-Apollo-era-legends-13788864.php
