The face of a hulking, hulking colonial explorer flashed across televisions across the United States that day in 1969. It was an event that meant much more than what was being broadcast. Everyone watched with admiration and amazement as Neil Armstrong, a humble terrestrial creature who had never intended to free himself from the atmosphere of his planet, took his first steps on the moon. But that's how it was. And he was an American. As lunar particles settled around the explorer and a star-spangled banner was brandished, a political victory came into focus, although most viewers were unable to clearly see what was happening. JFK's space promises to the American people were fulfilled through the NASA program, and we let the Soviets, our scientific and ideological rivals, eat our otherworldly dust. On April 15 of this year, at the JFK Space Center in Florida, President Obama gave a speech in which he announced the suspension of any immediately planned and launched manned space flight through NASA, some forty years after Neil Armstrong had taken that first step. From the content of his speech one could not have imagined this: Obama was more interested in an increase in NASA's budget of six million dollars, allocated for robotic space missions and technological advances (Obama np). But the crux of the matter, for the scientific community and the commentators they listened to, was the end of American astronauts adrift in space at the behest of taxpayers. The reason for Obama's cut in manned space flights was due largely to the Constellation program, an expansive effort to erect a lunar base by 2020 to be used as a pit stop on future missions to Mars, launched by the Bush administration in 2005 (Sutter np). The program of the pre-Obama administration… halfway through the document… is the job in Michoud.” wwltv.com April 16, 2010. Web. October 1, 2010. www.wwltv.com/news/local/Obama-NASA-Plan-Cuts-Jobs-At-Michoud-90984639.html>.Pallone, Greg. “NASA's new budget includes an additional Space Shuttle flight.” Orlando News13. 30 September 2010. Web. 1 October 2010./september/156845/How-the-new-NASA-plan-will-affect-Space-Coast-economy>.Rodgers, Ben. "Scientist: Mars mission delayed by a century." Jamestown Sunshine. April 4, 2010. Print.Sutter, John D. “Obama's Budget Would Cut Moon Exploration Program.” cnn.com. TurnerBroadcasting System, Inc., February 1, 2010. Web. October 19, 2010.02-01/tech/nasa.budget.moon_1_space-exploration-nasa-administrator-charlie-bolden-]nasa-programs?_s=PM:TECH>.Swanson, Alex and Leo Walford. "Robots from Mars... and God." New scientist. 184.2444 (2004): 33.Print.