Rep Fudge Takes Issue With NASA Ignoring Ohio Air Force Museum By Retiring Space Shuttles Elsewhere, Obama Wants Man On Mars

U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH) [1]
U.S. President Barack Obama [2]

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By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor of the Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog. Com and Cleveland Urban News.Com (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com [4])

U.S. Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11) is taking issue with a decision by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to overlook a bid by the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Oh. to house one of four remaining Space Shuttle orbiters that officials retired, including Space Shuttle Discovery, which took its last flight last March.

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the launching of Columbia out of the Kennedy Space Center in 1981. It's final mission proved tragic in 2003 as it was re-entering the earth's atmosphere when its wing was punctured, detroying the aircraft and killing the entire seven-member crew.

The first satellite was launched into space by the Russians in 1959 and was dubbed Sputnik, which motivated academicians and the nation's policy makers to place more emphasis on science and math, including enhancing public school science and math curricula. In 1969 American Astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first to land on the moon, flying there with others on the Apollo 11 spacecraft. That was five years after former U.S. Sen John Glen of Ohio became the first to orbit the earth and the third American in space. The astronaut turned politician retired from Congress in 1999.

Fudge was annoyed with the snub to Ohio through an announcement today by NASA officials on where the four Space Shuttle orbiters would make their homes. A Democrat from Warrenville Hts, Oh., she told reporters that the contributions to America's space program through a host of measures such as Glen and the Cleveland based NASA Glen Research Center should have landed her state another place in history.

“Ohioans have good reason to be disappointed in the final selection list," said Fudge, whose district includes parts of Cleveland and its eastern suburbs. "The Ohio Congressional Delegation was united and we worked hard to show NASA why a shuttle rightfully belongs in our state because Ohio not only contributed to development of the shuttle, it is also the birthplace of aviation and continues to be a national leader in aerospace technology, innovation, jobs and education."

NASA as we once knew it experienced its biggest transition after President Barack Obama took office in 2009 and began objecting officially to lunar[moon] missions, instead pushing research and technology designed to one day help man land on planet mars. Congress passed a law last year that embarks on a new direction outlined by the president that abandons old plans put in by the Bush administration to return astronauts to the moon by 2020.

Under the president's direction, NASA will now initiate ambitious projects aimed at sending astronauts and other explorers to an asteroid by 2025 and to Mars in the 2030s.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is a branch of the federal government for space exploration, among other scientifically related endeavors.

The Space Shuttles awarded for display and safe keeping went to the National Aeronautics and Space Museum in Washington D.C. (Discovery), the California Science Center in Los Angeles (Endeavor), the Kennedy Space Center in Orlando, Fl (Atlantis) and the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York City (Enterprise).

Space Shuttle Endeavor will take its last flight May 16 with Navy Capt Mark Kelly, the astronaut husband of wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, commanding it, and Atlantis will launch its last flight in July..

Along with the Columbia Space Shuttle fiasco, the Challenger is one of the most memorable. It blew up in 1986, 73 sec. into take off, stunning onlooking Americans, including students glued to televisions across the nation to watch school teacher Christa McAuliffe, the first member of the Teacher in Space Project. McAuliffe met her fate that day along with six astronauts, including Judith Resnik of Akron, Oh.

Data from the Kennedy visitor center estimates a shuttle will bring in 200,000 more museum guests every year, and an estimated $15 million to the area. That, some say, explains why the congressional delegation from Ohio, including Fudge, fought as if it were a spot for the summer Olympics to get one of the retired shuttles to Ohio's air force museum. The overreaching issue might be though that federal lawmakers from Ohio know that science, technology and industry are global draws that dictate a nation's universal standing, and on practically every scale.

Kennedy Space Center officials can brag of 135 launches before the system retired this year. Other NASA facilities include the Johnson Space Center for astronaut training in Houston TX.

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Posted By Journalist Kathy Wray Coleman to THE KATHY WRAY COLEMAN ONLINE NEWS BLOG.COM [5] at 4/12/2011 04:08:00 PM