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NASA no longer seeks to "understand and protect" Earth mongabay.com July 22, 2006 The New York Times reports that NASA no longer seeks to "understand and protect" Earth according to its mission statement. The Times found that the American space agency modified its mission statement in early February 2006, deleting the phrase "to understand and protect our home planet". The original statement said NASA's mission is "To understand and protect our home planet; to explore the universe and search for life; to inspire the next generation of explorers ... as only NASA can." Now NASA's stated mission is "to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research."
The change came after James E. Hansen, a climate scientist at NASA, told the media that the White House had been editing climate related press releases to make global warming seem like less of a threat. At the time he said, "In my more than three decades in the government I've never witnessed such restrictions on the ability of scientists to communicate with the public." Dr. Hansen told the Times that the change in wording "might reflect White House eagerness to shift the spotlight away from global warming." For more, see NASA's Goals Delete Mention of Home Planet Recommend this article? Comments? >Digg this article | >Hugg this article | Contact News options
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