WHICH COMES FIRST?

Right now all the talk, among the public and in the halls of government, is about one nation launching a new mission to our Moon. The implications from each discussion are that whoever lands back on the Moon claims it. In our opinion this must be avoided at all costs. The Moon and any settlement on it is totally an international issue.

So, before we even begin to develop a new mission to the Moon, must we first establish the Global Space Congress we call for? We believe it should be the other way around. We start the new Moon mission, but with the participation of as many international invitees as possible. Like the International Space Station we declare the mission an international one. From this definite and positive beginning we then begin to build the structure of the GSC. We certify this, by making certain that when our mission lands back on the Moon we declare it an international achievement.  Ideally we signify this by planting an international banner instead of any one nation's flag on the surface of the Moon.

Ho hum! Here come the international lawyers and diplomats seeking to carve out prime spots both on the Moon and on the developing GSC.  We need to avoid this by clearly establishing in the staffing of the Moon mission a command hierarchy based on expertise and mission goals.  As we have seen, again, with the ISS, command assignments rotate. We should expect to do this as the rule on all future Moon missions as well as the eventual leadership of the Moon Base itself.

So, the protocol exists by virtue of what we have accomplished with the ISS. We need to extend and expand that protocol to be the rule for the Moon Base program. By following this existing procedure we do not delay progress in getting ready for the initial Moon mission while, as we specify, we start the building process of the Global Space Congress.  Can we do it?  Will we do it?  Well, where do we want humankind to be 100 years from now?  To answer that question we must start now, and start with Moon Base Apollo.

CREDITS: The image in this blog article is courtesy of NASA and is of the ISS Expedition 18 crew.