‘We need to make sure that people are using facts and evidence’
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Former NASA astronauts have banded together under a new organization called Astronauts for America. . | Credit: NASA
A group of former NASA astronauts are joining forces with a new organization called “Astronauts for America.”
“Our country is the mission”, we can read on their slogan. And speaking with astronaut Ron Garan, co-founder of NASA, it’s clear how seriously they take this mission. “We must come together as a team and return our nation’s trajectory to a path that leads to a better future,” Garan said. Espace.com. “As astronauts, we are trained so that when we see something wrong, we say so and fix it.”
Astronauts for America is a new, explicitly nonpartisan organization made up of former NASA astronauts who aim to “defend the Constitution of the United States,” their website reads. Currently, more than 100 astronauts are participating in this mission, although not all are publicly listed on the website for privacy reasons, according to Garan.
So where does all this come from?
“There has been a steady erosion of respect for constitutional norms,” Garan said. “And there has been an erosion of rule and law.”
These concerns are shared by other organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, who declared growing concerns about violations of the U.S. Constitution by lawmakers.
Garan’s concerns also extend to a trend seen in recent years, toward distrust of science.
“There has been a steady erosion in the number of people holding political power, ignoring or suppressing scientific evidence. […] we need to make sure people use facts and evidence,” Garan added.
This trend has resulted in policy decisions that do not align with scientific evidence, such as legislation regarding vaccines and climate change. Even long-debunked scientific myths, like the conspiracy that Apollo 11 The moon landing was faked (hint: it wasn’t) and UFO conspiracies enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. Overall, this gap between science and public or political opinion has continued to widen.
The Astronauts for America logo. | Credit: Astronauts for America
How to protect the Constitution
To defend the U.S. Constitution, the group plans to first raise awareness through public platforms such as social media. They further plan to meet with members of Congress, “to urge them to use their constitutional powers to ensure checks and balances,” Garan said.
“We will publicly support leaders who use data and science to shape their policies,” he added. “And what we really want to do is build community, because the main goal of this organization is to unify the American people around this idea that we are greater than the sum of our parts. […] If we work together as crew members, as we do on space missions, we can steer our nation’s trajectory toward a future in which we all thrive. »
A key facet of the group’s approach is that it is an explicitly nonpartisan organization, so astronaut members are not affiliated with any specific political party; rather, they together focus on supporting constitutional government. As Garan described it, astronauts learn to solve incredibly difficult problems, and to do that, when it comes to the U.S. government, “we have to work together despite any differences we might have.”
Former NASA astronauts have banded together under a new organization called Astronauts for America. | Credit: NASA/Kjell Lindgren
“When we see things from two different angles, we see them in stereoscopic vision,” he added. “We’re starting to see the depth of a solution. One of the reasons it’s so important to consider all this diversity of perspectives is because it leads to better solutions.”
This isn’t the first time NASA astronauts have encountered politics. Many astronauts have become politicians or vice versa, for example. Former NASA administrator Bill Nelson was in politics before becoming an astronaut, while currently, former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly is a senator from Arizona.
Since it is a private, activist organization, current U.S. government employees cannot participate, so you will not see any current astronauts or astronaut-turned-politicians as members. However, even if current astronauts cannot participate directly, it is possible that the admiration generated by the recent NASA mission Artemis 2 mission around the moon could play an indirect role in the group’s ultimate goal, Garan shared.
“The Artemis 2 mission filled the world, not just the nation, with awe and wonder,” Garan said. “And when we build things on wonder, it naturally opens the mind. It breaks down defenses, it puts fear to rest, and it allows us to have rational conversations about how to actually solve our problems.”
