Dear God,
Guide Americans to appreciate our President’s innovations relating to space.
I will present three major initiatives related to President Trump and Vice President Pence’s outstanding recasting of a hugely important feature of the future – space.
The Artemis Accords
On October 13, 2020, the Artemis Accords were established as a practical set of principles to guide space exploration, with cooperation among nations participating in NASA’s 21st-century lunar exploration plans. The aim is to create “a safe, peaceful, and prosperous future in space for all of humanity to enjoy,” according to NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine.
While NASA is leading the Artemis program, which includes sending the first woman and next man to the surface of the Moon in 2024, international partnerships will play a key role in achieving a sustainable and robust presence on the Moon within this decade, while preparing to conduct an historic human mission to Mars.
So far, membership in the Artemis Accords includes eight countries. In alphabetical order:
- Australia
- Canada
- Italy
- Japan
- Luxembourg
- The United Arab Emirates
- The United Kingdom
- The United States of America
Mike Gould, NASA’s acting Associate Administration for International and Interagency Relations, stated, “The Artemis journey is to the moon, but the destination of the Accords is a peaceful and prosperous future.” Additional countries are to join as the program develops.
Feats that will be a part of the Artemis Accord’s initiatives will be the following:
- The most powerful rocket in the world
- Modern spacesuits for deep space
- Modern human landing systems
- Lunar outposts around the Moon
- Robotic activities on the surface of the Moon
The Artemis Accords and its lunar challenges, when overcome, will engender opportunities that humankind cannot even imagine yet.
The Space Force
President Trump stated, “It will create a centralized, unified chain of command that is responsible for space, because ultimately when responsibility is fragmented, no one’s responsible.” Military systems in space provide crucial information to the troops, for example, GPS satellites help the military hit targets precisely.
The Space Force is the sixth branch of the U.S. Armed Services, and the first new military service since the Air force was created in 1947.
President Trump said during the formation of this new military service: “Space is the world’s newest war-fighting domain. Amid grave threats to our national security, American superiority is absolutely vital. And we’re leading, but we’re not leading by enough. But very shortly we’ll be leading by a lot.”
The Space Force was established as an independent military branch in December 20, 2019. About 16,000 active duty and civilian Air Force personnel are being assigned to the Space Force. In terms of personnel count, it is the smallest U.S. armed service within the Department of Defense. The Space Force falls within the Department of Defense, but will soon have its own representative on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This will make it similar in organization to the Marine Corps, which is part of the Department of Navy but has its own seat on the Joint Chiefs.
Some of the things Space Force will not do include putting military service members in space. It is not connected to NASA, and is not about protecting Earth from asteroids or aliens.
Essential aspects of the Space Force include the following:
- Space security, establishing and promoting stable conditions for the safe and secure access to space for civil, commercial, intelligence agencies, and multinational U.S. partners.
- Combat power projection integrates defensive and offensive operations to maintain a desired level of freedom of action for the United States and its allies relative to an adversary.
The United States Space Force is said to be working closely with commercial leaders in the space domain such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin to determine their capability in supporting the mission.
NASA and SpaceX Launch Astronauts into a New Era of Private Space Flight
Space history was made as SpaceX and NASA launched two astronauts into space aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft, the first time a private company has flown humans into orbit, and the first crewed launch from the United States since the conclusion of the space shuttle program in 2011.
Space consultant Laura Forczyk said, “This is the first time that SpaceX has ever launched astronauts, and it’s also the first time that a government has trusted a commercial company to launch astronauts into orbit. It’s a big deal.” This is a definitive mark of innovation from the Innovation President Donald Trump!
The Crew Dragon spacecraft took about 19 hours to arrive at the International Space Station (ISS). The crew, Behnken and Hurley, first flew the capsule manually as a test. Hurley explained, “It flew just like it was supposed to,” after the astronauts arrived at the ISS. He went on, “It is exactly like the simulator and we couldn’t be happier about its performance.” The spacecraft actually docked with the ISS autonomously.
Behnken and Hurley would return via the Crew Dragon after conducting scientific experiments with the three astronauts already at the ISS.
Because SpaceX can bring humans to the ISS NASA no longer has to purchase seats aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Also, NASA now has more flexibility in sending astronauts to space.
To really touch off the tremendous success of the venture, a flight on the Crew Dragon is less expensive than other crewed launches.
Our Innovation President really outdid himself with his superb leadership in the three wonderful space endeavors:
- The Artemis Accord: Will place the first woman and a man on the moon by 2024 with follow-up to explore lunar surface extensively and help plan a later journey to Mars.
- United States Space Force: Reorganizes many capabilities to create a centralized, unified chain of command that is responsible for space, as stated by our Innovation President.
- NASA and SpaceX Astronaut Launch: This is an exciting, novel, and propitious use of free enterprise; which is the engine of prosperity. President Trump accomplished this with his in-depth business owner success coupled with his “can-do” attitude. SpaceX and billionaire Elon Musk really put on a wonderful display of the immense opportunities in space and otherwise of what a bold private enterprise can do on all sorts of frontiers.
Let’s re-elect our Innovation President as I predict he will continue to produce wonderful innovations in this Innovation Age!
In Christ’s name, Amen.
