Charles Krauthammer characteristically criticized our government in his Jan. 1 op-ed, "Space: The visionaries take over." While singing the praises of Elon Musk, Jeffrey Bezos, Richard Branson and the Teslas, Edisons and Wright brothers of the private sector, he opined that "space travel has now slipped the surly bonds of government — presidents, Congress, NASA bureaucracies." He noted that space travel will no longer "hinge on the whims of only tangentially interested politicians."
Mr. Krauthammer is old enough to remember hearing these words: "We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win ." They were spoken by President John F. Kennedy on Sept. 12, 1962, at Rice University in Houston. That, Mr. Krauthammer, is vision writ large, and from a politician no less.
Bill Fallon, Gaithersburg
