There's an exhibit of science fiction art called "The Future We Were Promised." Maybe that expression existed before the exhibit. But today there have been so many articles about Apollo 11, plus the hubbub here at work (they gave us free moon pies in a hokey sort of congratulations) -- well, that's the expression that keeps going through my head.

Who would expect that 35 years later, we would not be back on the moon to stay? Who would expect that we didn't have any serious plans for a manned trip to Mars? Who would expect, on the anniversary of the lunar landing, that the House Appropriations Committee would have the gall to slash spending on new space exploration programs? Why does an alliance of space advocacy groups representing a million people can only turn out 70 people for a Moon-Mars blitz on the capital? (Even I'm guilty here, I fly to D.C. to march for women's rights but not space exploration...) Who would expect that the highest altitude man has been soaring at for the last three decades is about the distance between D.C. and New York City? Who would expect that in the same country that raptly watched moonwalks, a vast portion of the public doesn't even realize there are two astronauts living aboard the International Space Station right now? Who would guess that during an administration that doubts the existance of global warming that NASA's budget would be cut more than the Environmental Protection Agency?

Today, they opened up the lunar rock area for employees to visit. It looked unused, sterile. In fact there are several sealed cannister's of lunar materials returned from Apollo 17 (in 1972) that are still unopened for want of manpower and interest. While we walked over, we talked about living on the moon. When I was in junior high, high school, this seemed like a legitimate dream, even as I watched the space station stay alive by only one vote in Congress. I can remember writing an essay about establishing colonies on Mars when I was in 8th grade. I envisioned that in 10 years, if I was working for the space program, that's what I would be working on -- instead there has been no progress made in all that time except some paper studies and inflated budget estimates.

But the question I have a hard time answering, the reason I don't think the public is keen on funding space exploration, is "Why? Why go into space?" The only answer is that it is the future we were promised. I hate the idea of stopping exploration - its something that is so compelling and a part of the human spirit. I also don't understand the argument that exploration should be purely robotic -- there are vast differences between people and programs - seeing, touching, feeling, and thinking and the synthesis of all those things is what will lead to ground breaking discoveries.

I wonder what the state of the space program will be in 10 years from now?

Ok, I'm going to stop waxing philosophic. Did I mention its a slow day for me?