Garn calls for further exploration of cosmos

The other night, former senator and astronaut Jake Garn was moving around so much in his sleep that his wife woke him.

He explained that in his dream, he was skiing on Mars.

Kathleen Garn asked, "How did you get your skis there?"

"I said, 'Honey, I don't know. The dream didn't answer that.' "

What the dream did show was how much the former astronaut loves space exploration as well as skiing.

On the 25th anniversary of the first shuttle flight, Garn and other Utah space experts took a moment to look into the future of human exploration of the cosmos. They remain convinced of the importance of humans in space. And though they differ on their outlook of the space program, some agree that venturing into the unknown of space can't be avoided.

"Human beings have it in our psyche. Buried somewhere in our psyche is the urge to explore," said Patrick Wiggins, a NASA solar system ambassador to Utah. Exploration is "just something we do, and we will continue to do it as long as humans continue to be curious."

The space shuttle's quarter-century anniversary, coincidently, is the 21st anniversary of Garn's own flight into orbit aboard Space Shuttle Discovery (April 12-19, 1985).

"I'd rather talk about space than anything else," Garn said.

He bristled at the idea that the shuttle hasn't lived up to expectations. Any shortcomings can be blamed on a lack of funding and a "lack of leadership in the various (presidential) administrations," he said.

"They just have not provided adequate funding in order for it to reach the potential that I believe it should have."

NASA's budget is only seven-tenths of 1 percent of federal spending, he said. Although it's larger in dollar figures than when he left the Senate 13 years ago, when inflation is factored in "it's about the same," Garn said.

Meanwhile, he feels certain the International Space Station should be completed. It's like having a house that is only partly constructed, he said.

"In my opinion, the space program is way behind where it could have been if we had funded these initiatives properly," Garn added.

America never wasted a dime in space, he insists. All the money for these projects has been spent on Earth, with Utah a great beneficiary because of the presence of ATK, builder of the shuttle's solid rocket boosters.

If he had his druthers the country would first finish the space station, "and then my next objective would be to go back to the moon."

Utah's other astronaut, Don Lind — who went into orbit aboard Space Shuttle Challenger in 1985 — says he firmly backs President Bush's "plan to phase out the shuttle, finish out our treaty obligations on the International Space Station . . . as fast as we can, so that we return to the moon."