NEIL ARMSTRONG, AMERICAN HERO SLAMS OBAMA OVER KILLING SPACE PROGRAM

July, 1969, Neil Armstrong proclaimed, "that's one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind," as he took the first step on the surface of the moon. The Apollo 11 commander has been a national treasure and hero since taking that first step in the most daring mission in American and world history.

The United States has been the leader for nearly fifty years in the development of space travel and our space program has been the envy of the world as the exploits of great Americans like Armstrong, John Glenn, Jame Lovell and hundreds more who braved the unknown as they left the safety of Earth to venture into the, "final frontier," of space to explore and perform scientific research which has brought many of the medical, electronic and communications devices, medicines and procedures that we use in our everyday lives.

The next step in space exploration was planned to finish the development of the Ares booster rocket and the Constellation space vehicle which was the next generation to follow the success of the Space Shuttle. Returning first to the moon and then venturing on to the next great space frontier, Mars.

Beginning in the 2011 budget Barack Obama has cancelled and defunded this vital space program in lieu of making space flight commercial and eliminating American space exploration and American space vehicles causing us to pay to ride aboard Russian and other countries who have developed space travel in order to reach the Space Station and nothing more.

Neil Armstrong, Commander of Apollo 11 and first man on the moon, James Lovell, Commander of Apollo 13 and Gene Cernan, Commander of Apollo 17 sent a scathing letter to Obama, (follow the link to read the letter), criticizing Obamas destruction of our space program and pointing out how it will hurt out Nation.

The United States entered the space race under the administration of Dwight Eisenhower. We looked toward the moon from the vision of John Kennedy. Lyndon Johnson pushed to complete the task of reaching the moon and Richard Nixon spoke to our first moon travelers as they took the first steps in 1969 and began the next step, the Space Shuttle program.

Jimmy Carter encouraged the next step in our space program as the Space Shuttle continued its final development during his administration. Ronald Reagan saw the first Shuttle launch in 1981 and he and George H.W. Bush continued the advancement of the shuttle program during their time in the Oval Office.

The International Space Station began construction during the Clinton administration and became a permanent space feature with continual scientific study and occupation while George Bush was President. The Ares, the next generation booster was developed and tested during the Bush administration as well as the beginning of the development of the Constellation and the Mars mission.

Then comes Barack Obama and ends fifty years of heroic US history and technological development unmatched by any other country in the world. We have lead the way in space and have achieved more in space that the entire world combined and now Obama has chosen to end this momentous piece of American history, American achievement and American greatness. Obama sees it as his duty to destroy American greatness and to make The United States just another country who is part of a, "global community," rather than the exceptional and leader of the world which we have been throughout our history.

Ken Taylor