Newt Gingrich is not the first American politician to look toward the moon for inspiration, as he did in a town hall meeting in Cocoa, Fla., as recorded on C-SPAN. Three American presidents have proposed sending astronauts to the moon. Only one president's proposal has succeeded.
John F. Kennedy -- "We Choose to Go to the Moon"
The most famous presidential lunar initiative was that of President John F. Kennedy, given to a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961, according to the JFK Library. At a time when the Soviet Union had beaten the U.S. into space and American space experience consisted of a short, 15-minute suborbital flight, Kennedy proposed sending a man to the moon and returning him safely to Earth by the end of the 1960s. The man to the moon was toward the end of a list of what Kennedy considered important proposals for his agenda. The moon landing, which became the Apollo program, is the one best remembered. It was accomplished on July 20, 1969, when Apollo 11 landed on the Sea of Tranquility on the lunar surface.
George H.W. Bush -- "Back to the Moon; back to the future. And this time, back to stay"
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing, President George H.W. Bush proposed what was to become the Space Exploration Initiative, which included a lunar base and eventual expeditions to Mars. He made the proposal, according to the Bush library, on the steps of the Air and Space Museum in Washington, surrounded by the crew of the Apollo 11 mission, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. However, for various political reasons, SEI was never funded by Congress. The program was quietly cancelled by Bush's successor, President Bill Clinton.
George W. Bush -- "Return to the moon by 2020"
In the wake of the destruction of the space shuttle and her crew, the second Bush administration sought to put its own stamp on NASA's space program. Bush delivered a speech at NASA headquarters, according to NASA, on Jan. 14, 2004, in which he announced what would became the Vision for Space Exploration. This time the exploration program received funding and made some progress during the remainder of the Bush administration. However, citing the budget deficit and technical and schedule problems that had arisen in the program, Bush's successor, President Barack Obama, canceled it in February 2010. Congress revolted and brought back portions of the exploration program, including the Orion Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle and the heavy lift Space Launch System, and has provided funding for both. Officially, though, Obama administration space policy points toward visiting an Earth approaching asteroid, not the moon, as the first destination beyond low Earth orbit.
Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of Apollo and The Last Moonwalker. He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the L.A. Times, and The Weekly Standard.
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