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Home > Window on Washington > Archives > 2008 > October > 29 > Entry
Sally Ride Endorses Obama
Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has gained a foothold in another voter demographic: astronauts.
Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, endorsed the Democratic candidate on Wednesday in an op-ed published in the Orlando Sentinel.
Comparing Obama’s inspirational capabilities to those of JFK, she writes, “He has inspired young people to engage with their communities and has excited them about the possibilities of what they can accomplish. That is in the best spirit of discovery.”
Space travel is not just the subject of childhood fantasies though. It’s primed to be a major policy issue for the next administration.
NASA, currently celebrating its 50th anniversary, is widely considered to be at a crossroads as it refocuses on returning to the moon and sending the first astronauts to Mars.
President Bush highlighted the new objectives in 2004, less than a year after the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated while reentering the Earth’s atmosphere. To reach these goals, NASA will retire its aging shuttle fleet — only 10 more flights are planned — and create a new generation of rockets, the Ares I and V.
It’s an important topic in Florida, a key battleground state and home of the John F. Kennedy Space Center. The center currently employs 15,000 people, and about 4,600 are estimated to lose their jobs when the shuttle is retired.
Both presidential candidates have expressed their support for the space program, which has an annual budget upwards of $17 billion.
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