This is an adapted excerpt from the Aug. 11 episode of "Morning Joe."
Former NASA astronaut Jim Lovell, commander of the harrowing Apollo 13 mission, died Thursday at the age of 97. In addition to that near-fatal 1970 mission to the moon, Lovell took part in several other spaceflights: Gemini 7, Gemini 12 and Apollo 8. He was one of the great explorers in the history of humankind.
Lovell’s Apollo missions gripped not only Americans but people around the globe. This was a time when the United States was pushing out against the boundaries, not only of space exploration, but also science, technology and medicine — daring to go places that no one in the history of humankind had ever dared to go before. It was an America, as historian Jon Meacham would say, that manifested itself “in an inclination to open our arms rather than to clench our fists.”
We’re still standing on the shoulders of giants who started pushing the exploration of science, physics and technology. That’s why we live in the world we live in today — because we did open our arms, we did look to the future; instead of closing up, clenching our fists and retreating, like we seem to be doing these days.
Under Donald Trump’s administration, so many programs are being cut and slashed for no good reason at all. He has gutted funding for the National Institutes of Health, for women’s health, for Alzheimer’s, for cancer research — you could go down the list. It makes absolutely no sense, and America will become a poorer country because of it.
Right now, America needs a Republican Congress that will actually work in a bipartisan way with Democrats to restore funding to these critical research and development programs. The government shouldn’t be attacking America’s universities; it should be forming partnerships with them.
I think most Americans would agree that’s the way we grow our future. Supporting science and research is how we made it to the moon. It got us to where we are. There’s a reason the United States continues to lead the world in so many areas, and it’s because we’ve invested in research and development.
Instead of punishing those who have been leading the way, it’s incumbent on Republican members of Congress to stand up and do what they know is right for America, not follow a path that will lead us to a second-rate status.
That’s one thing that Lovell’s incredible life taught us: the value in an America that looks to the world with open arms, rather than clenched fists.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
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