NASA aims to reach out to Muslim world, but what about space exploration?

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Conservatives are making a big deal of Byron York's report at the Washington Examiner on NASA's new mission to reach out to the Muslim world:

In a far-reaching restatement of goals for the nation's space agency, NASA administrator Charles Bolden says President Obama has ordered him to pursue three new objectives: to "re-inspire children" to study science and math, to "expand our international relationships," and to "reach out to the Muslim world." Of those three goals, Bolden said in a recent interview with al-Jazeera, the mission to reach out to Muslims is "perhaps foremost," because it will help Islamic nations "feel good" about their scientific accomplishments.

In the same interview, Bolden also said the United States, which first sent men to the moon in 1969, is no longer capable of reaching beyond low earth orbit without help from other nations.

Bolden made the statements during a recent trip to the Middle East. He told al-Jazeera that in the wake of the president's speech in Cairo last year, the American space agency is now pursuing "a new beginning of the relationship between the United States and the Muslim world."

On one hand, I don't see much of a problem here. NASA focuses on space exploration, of course, but it also has an educative purpose, or mission. Assuming that Bolden is telling the truth here -- and I have no reason to think he isn't, though I wonder if he might not have been emphasizing certain points in reaching out to a largely Muslim audience -- the president wants to see the agency engage positively with the Muslim world in order to highlight its scientific achievements and to bring it closer to the U.S. In other words, NASA would contribute to diplomatic efforts to forge bonds between the U.S. and the Muslim world while seeking to strengthen the latter's commitment to science.

And it is this last point that is key. It was science, after all, that liberated the West from the shackles of Dark Ages and Medieval Christianity and that continues to withstand efforts by religious fundamentalists, including Christians, to undo centuries of progress and return to theocratic ignorance and oppression. What Obama understands is that the Muslim world needs more science, that it needs to be reminded of its own glorious scientific past and encouraged to free itself from its own self-imposed bondage.

To that end, perhaps NASA can help. Engagement would likely bring much greater international cooperation in general and perhaps, just perhaps, significant progress and modernization in the Muslim world.

On the other hand, the new mission seems rather silly, and beyond NASA's traditional purpose. As my conservative friend Ed Morrissey puts it:

The problem Byron uncovers goes farther than just the Muslim outreach, though. NASA has always inspired children and even bolstered international relations, but not because that was its mission. It did those things by pursuing solid goals of exploration of space, which is why Congress funds the agency. Those esteem-boosters came as a secondary result of actual achievement, not as an end in itself. The Obama administration wants to turn this over onto its head by making NASA a bureaucracy dedicated to self-esteem which might at some point have a goal that has to do with exploration of space.

This is a recipe for failure on an expensive scale. Congress needs to either get the White House to redefine its mission for NASA or cut off its funds until the self-esteem party is canceled.

I wouldn't go so far as to call it a "self-esteem party" -- again, Bolden's comments were directed at a Muslim audience and were likely meant as an expression of respect directed at Muslims' sense of prideful self-identity -- but I think Ed's right that NASA might just be overstepping its bounds here. The focus really should be on working towards actual achievements in the area of space exploration, such as a manned mission to Mars or a near-Earth asteroid, not on being an organ of foreign policy and making Muslim countries "feel good."

Outreach here on Earth has a place, of course, and it's true that the U.S. can't go it alone in space, but NASA would do well to go back to what it does best, which is exploring new frontiers in space. And while the U.S. can and perhaps should support science in the Muslim world with the goal of modernization and perhaps liberalization, Obama would do well to get NASA back on track.