New Delhi: Former NASA astronauts have formed a non-partisan nonprofit organisation to advocate for democratic values, constitutional limits and civic responsibilities in the United States. Astronauts For America, a mix of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, plans to evaluate political candidates and meet with government policymakers to raise concerns about US democracy.
The Wall Street Journal, on 21 April, reviewed a letter written by the group to the American people, which discussed the group’s founding values.
“For decades, we’ve seen a steady erosion of our founding values and principles that weakens our democratic systems. The result has been political polarization and subversion of key constitutional and institutional norms, including bipartisan cooperation, executive constraint, and judicial independence,” wrote 103 former NASA astronauts.
A score card for politicians
Independent of the US space agency, the group was formed last year, with membership open only to retired astronauts.
Co-founder Garrett Reisman, who joined Expedition 16 aboard the International Space Station, was unhappy after witnessing an immigration raid at a carwash near his home. It was then that he decided to start the organisation. He is a registered Democrat.
Talking to WSJ, Reisman said he called the raid “un-American”.
“It seemed to be more like what I was used to seeing when I lived in Russia, where basically the security services can act with impunity,” said the two-time space cadet.
This is the first time a cohort of former astronauts has come out to talk about the political situation in the US. The group promises,“to take officials to task when they ignore the rule of law or distort and disregard the facts.”
The Astronauts For America plans to educate voters by holding leaders accountable and coming up with a candidate scorecard.
Steve Lindsey, who flew five space shuttle missions and registered as a Republican, before co-founding the group, hoped the organisation would push for free and fair elections, evidence based decision making, policies grounded in data and increased public confidence in the system.
The group aims to make its findings public and urge citizens to use them as a basis to evaluate their elected officials and candidates.
In their letter, the spacefarers discussed respecting political choices and speaking at a time when things seemed wrong.
“We didn’t spend time discussing who we voted for when we were working in the NASA Astronaut Corps,” they wrote.
The former Chief of the Astronaut office also pointed to the Congress’s very low approval rating and too much dependency of presidents on executive orders.
“It’s easy to point to the present examples, and this is a world we live in, and we’re all pretty familiar with those…and it’s not new, but what we do see is an acceleration,” said Lindsey.
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)