When the Clinton administration signed a deal in 1993 to include the Russians in the station, Aerospace Daily reported that the program would bring Russia's "cash-strapped aerospace industry some $1 billion in U.S. funds over the life of the project."
Clintonites pitched the project as transnational jobs program. "Officials said it has the added benefit of helping forestall unemployment for workers at Russia's Baikonur space-launch site," reported The Washington Post.
The International Space Station is international socialism, and it exemplifies why many have fallen out of love with NASA.
NASA caught hold of the American heart with a space race. When President Kennedy called for Americans to put a man on the moon before the end of the 1960s -- before the Soviets -- he was appealing equally to our patriotic passions and individualistic virtues. The moon race was the perfect cross between a war and an Olympic competition. Men competed peacefully for their country. But they didn't compete for little medals. They competed for great national interests.
It's the stars and stripes of a free republic planted on the moon, not the hammer and sickle of an extinct, totalitarian empire.
In January, President Bush announced a bold plan to build a permanent base on the moon as a stepping-stone to Mars. But he didn't pitch it like Kennedy's moon shot. "The vision I outlined today is a journey, not a race," said Bush, "and I call on other nations to join us on this journey in a spirit of cooperation and friendship."
It cost $100 billion in today's dollars to put an American on the moon in 1969. How many U.S. tax dollars will it take to put a Russian on a moon base?
NASA outgoing director didn't believe his NASA job was worth the sacrifice his children might face if they incurred a great debt for college. How many taxpayers want their children to incur a great national debt to put an international station on the moon?