By Barry H. Hendrix

PW Contributing Editor

"We, as a nation, haven't paid enough attention to provide for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), said Mike Griffin, former administrator of NASA. "...I think that is a horrible reflection on our history of capabilities and our future as a people.

"...History is written by the great nations of their times - not the ones who were also-rans....(When countries) cease being at frontiers of their times, they fall into the backwater, and other nations and societies go ahead. As long as there is a frontier, the United States must be at its edge."

A successful space program, as well as infrastructure and healthcare, will require "a sustained investment and constancy of purpose over a period of time," he said.

Griffin, who currently serves as an eminent scholar and a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at The University of Alabama in Huntsville, spoke Aug. 18 to the Tuscaloosa Rotary Club at Indian Hills Country Club.

NASA and the United States have recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of man landing on the moon. "Flying to the moon was a symbol for the impossible until it had been done," he said. However, flights to the moon ended under the administration of President Richard Nixon, and "we dismantled the means by which we had done it.

"We couldn't fly our astronauts to the moon today - if we wanted to. It would take us a long time to recreate the system that was in place."

The U.S. has not built on the accomplishments of the moon program, he said.

"We can get our astronauts to earth orbit for another couple of years before we retire the space shuttle. Then, if we want to put our astronauts on board the space station - that we have built...we will have to buy rides from Russia.

"...What's worst, I don't think we have a future plan to do any better," Griffin said.

The space shuttle and space station were worthy things to do, he said, but they lack "a unifying goal to go further and do more.

"...No president since Nixon has really stepped forward to say what the United States ought to be doing. We ought to be developing ourselves as a space faring nation."

Congress has also not shown leadership for the space program, he said. Griffin was hopeful when President George W. Bush promoted going back to the moon, establishing a permanent base and eventually traveling to Mars. "That's a bold program - something that is fitting for Americans.

"...Few presidents are willing to sponsor any activity which doesn't yield fruit in their tenure." The space program is one of things like owning the Army, Navy and Air Force where presidents have to be "sufficiently dedicated public servants and sufficiently forward looking that they don't care if the next guy gets the credit."

The rhetoric from the new Obama administration had been excellent toward the future of the space program, he said. However, the funding is not adequate. "We have run up against an inability to do what we say we want to do," Griffin said.

A new commission has been established to look at human space exploration. The head of that commission, former Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine, said recently, that after the space station is finished in 2010, there is no additional money allocated to NASA to do anything more. NASA had been allocated $22 billion through 2013.

America is wealthy enough to do great things in the future, Griffin said referring to Augustine's remarks. China and India are going into space along with Russia and the European Union. It is unimaginable for the U.S. not to be involved in human space exploration, he said.

Griffin also remarked about how the space program was valuable to the public and had advanced technology such as the cell phone and portable liquid oxygen.