Update: Despite all the “sky is falling” reports, I am not alone in my thinking. ArsTechnica has a great look at what the budget means and NetworkWorld is reporting that $50 Million has already been rewarded to 5 different private companies who could one day provide spacecraft to get astronauts into low-Earth orbit. The takeaway? Take the oversized, over-budget government monstrosity out of the business of sending humans up so it can focus on getting them to farther, more interesting places!

I have to admit, I am always suspicious whenever I hear something Barack Obama does that I agree with, luckily it doesn’t happen often. With that said, it looks as though the President is going to go ahead and do something the Republican Congress and President Bush were unwilling to even try, privatize our human exploration of outer space.

Many of you may not know this, but I am a space enthusiast. I love everything there is about space travel, astrophysics and the worlds that exist beyond our own. Yes I am both a Star Wars and Star Trek fan and I love to talk about the latest satellites exploring planets in our solar system and dream about where human exploration will go. Yet, I have come to hate NASA.

NASA, once an amazing, proud and awe-inspiring organization, has become little more than a machine for global warming nuts to get their jollies. Years ago it was moved from a government institution dedicated to carrying our nation’s pride to new worlds to a floating waste focused entirely on “Earth Sciences” or what has become watching different kinds of small animals have sex in space while searching for signs of global warming. Not that impressive.

NASA itself is a bureaucracy to end all bureaucracy. It is a sluggish dinosaur swimming in a sea of waste. The final tell-tale sign of both the lack of innovation in the organization and the Congress that plays politics with its budget, was the release of plans to return to the moon. In the 1960’s NASA hadn’t even put a man in orbit when John Kennedy told the agency and the world an American would land on Earths satellite before the decade was out. They achieved the goal and revolutionized the world in the process.

In 2004 President Bush announced a plan that would have astronauts back on the surface within sixteen years. Yes, you read that right. In 1960 it took about 9 years to get to the moon. In 2004 it would take 16 and our plan was to use very similar technology. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that math.

The bloated, aimless and dying organization is a perfect example of how government can achieve amazing feats in the short-term but fails miserably keeping things up. Just wait till they run your health care!

President Obama is expected to release a budget tomorrow that will effectively kill the current plans to return men to the moon. These plans have been in effect since 2004 but have been just as aimless and sluggish as the institution itself. Numerous setbacks, a true lack of inspiration and conflict have marred the project. In its place, Obama will reportedly propose giving private entities the chance to build their own spacecraft with a guarantee that the United States government has money waiting to fly on them.

While we don’t really have the money to do much of anything, it is as much of a guarantee as Medicare recipients count on each year, so private entities might as well go with it. The hope is that a new industry will be born and NASA will be able to focus on things it does better, things that don’t include building spacecraft.

The problem of course is Congress and an array of Senators both Republican and Democrat, mostly Republican, who represent districts that make an enormous amount of money from NASA. There is no guarantee that private industry will build their spacecraft or fly them in Texas or Florida as NASA does now. Billions a year and trillions over time will be lost to these districts, the pork will dry up and they will actually have to run on their records. Imagine that nightmare!

Hopefully this industry will boom to the point where our government can be out of the civilian space industry completely, freeing up billions of dollars and letting better minds with bigger vision take over travel.

The only addition I would make is to beef up our military presence in space. We have operated for too long under a treaty that bans our weaponization of space. I personally believe it is time for the Air Force to begin building its own spacecraft and work to protect our interests in outer space including the security of satellites and the safety of this budding industry. China is advancing as is India and the best thing we can do is stay ahead of the curb.

As I mentioned, I am always suspicious and skeptical of anything President Obama proposes. If he is genuine in his desire to start this industry and there are companies like Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin and Google willing to start building both vehicles and other technology for space travel, I say conservatives should truly get behind this. Let the marketplace do what it does and lets work to close down a bloated government program.