"Ray" wrote in
news:VqzVe.12224$ck6.9724@trndny05:

Is it possible that the Republician party in the US supports
and has
always supported human spaceflight and NASA more than the Democratic
party in the US despite the fact that going to the moon was JFKs idea?

It's an oversimplification. It's true today, generally speaking, but it
hasn't always been the case.

Looking over the length of each presidential administration since NASA
was formed, we find that (adjusted for inflation), JFK was the only
Democrat whose administration ended with the NASA budget higher than when
it started. Conversely, Nixon is the only Republican whose administration
ended with a lower NASA budget than when he started.

The opposition to Apollo came from both ends of the spectrum, but the
loudest and most prominent opponents (such as the Rev. Ralph Abernathy)
were Democrats.

During the 1984-93 budget battles over Space Station Freedom, the station
always enjoyed much wider support among the Republicans than among the
Democrats. The two main opponents of SSF, Roemer (D-IN) and Zimmer (R-NJ)
were bipartisan but most of their cosponsors were Democrats. It wasn't
until after Clinton took the project over and renamed it ISS that he
could even get a majority of his own party to support it, and even then
the Democrats supported ISS in lower percentages than did the
Republicans.

I am a registered democrat, a huge supporter of NASA and human
spaceflight and usually vote democrat, but think that the Republicians
support it more. I think this is probably because most space
infrastructure and industry in located in mostly Republician states.

Keep in mind that when the infrastructure was built, in the 1960s, most
of those states (with the exception of California) were part of the
Democratic Solid South. The voting pattern in those states has gradually
drifted Republican since then.

I heard once that Walter Mondall tried to stop the Apollo moon
landings after the Apollo 1 fire

Mondale was a prominent opponent of human spaceflight and was part of the
Congressional committee investigating the fire, but I don't remember if
he actually seriously attempted to terminate Apollo.

and I think that John Kerry tried to
cut funding to the space station back in 1991.

Not the complete story. Kerry was a space station opponent and voted to
cut funding for it every year up until 1998. In 1999, with the first
elements already in orbit, he gave up and started supporting the program.

--
JRF

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