The Apollo program has cost roughly $25 billion so far (in 1960s dollars), and I’ve been reading about the political sustainability of continuing it.

The national mood has shifted since the Apollo 11 euphoria. The landing was the peak; we went to the Moon, we did what we said we’d do, the Cold War space race has been decisively won. Now the question is: what are we doing all of this for, going forward?

The justifications for the original program were partly Cold War competition, partly national prestige, partly scientific. The Cold War justification is satisfied — we won. The prestige justification is somewhat satisfied — though there’s a school of thought that says we need to keep going to maintain the lead. The scientific justification is real and ongoing — each Apollo mission brings back samples and data that genuinely advances our understanding of the Moon and early solar system. But “scientific research” is harder to sell to Congress than “beating the Soviets.”

Nixon’s administration has been lukewarm on space since the beginning. Nixon was never the space enthusiast that Kennedy was, and the Kennedy program is not something Nixon has any particular desire to celebrate or extend. The NASA budget has already been declining as a fraction of the federal budget. The future is unclear.

I’ve been reading about the plans for post-Apollo: a space station in Earth orbit, a shuttle to service it, eventually a Mars mission by the 1980s. These were the plans as of a year ago; I’m not sure they’re as firm now. The shuttle is probably going to happen. The space station maybe. Mars — I wouldn’t bet on it in the 1980s.

There’s also a domestic argument. Billions for the Moon while cities have poverty and schools need funding and the war is still consuming money and lives. The comparison is not always fair — the space program has driven technology development, created jobs, and advanced science in ways that have downstream benefits — but the comparison resonates politically. It’s hard to look someone in the eye and tell them the Moon matters more than their neighborhood.

I believe the space program matters enormously. I also believe those are hard things to hold together. I don’t have a clean answer.

What I know is: the program needs political protection that it doesn’t currently seem to have. I hope Apollo 14, 15, 16, 17, and whatever comes after can find it.