WARREN Former area astronaut sees potential in space

Exploration provides jobs and new technologies, the former astronaut said.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A city native and former astronaut calls President Bush's plan for a new course in space exploration a great deal.
Some may scoff at a budget in the billions, but Dr. Ronald Parise, a 1969 graduate of Western Reserve High School, points out that's a drop in the bucket compared with the entire national budget.
"I don't know where people think that money goes," said Parise, who flew into space on the Columbia shuttle in 1990. "A lot of people have jobs because of it. It's employing U.S. workers to do something that's worthwhile."
Technology
There's also the possibility for new technology to come out of it.
"Everyone likes their new gadgets every year," he said.
Many of those gadgets as well as medical technology come out of government-sponsored technology research done through NASA, the city native said.
"I think it's a great deal," Parise said.
Bush last week proposed manned exploration of the moon within the next several years with manned exploration of Mars to follow.
Now a senior scientist with Computer Sciences Corp., on contract with NASA and living in Silver Spring, Md., Parise earned his bachelor of science degree in physics in 1973 from Youngstown State University before earning master's and doctoral degrees at the University of Florida.
"Exploration and discovery has always been a valuable activity for any country," Parise said, pointing to early Spanish, British and Portuguese explorers and their discoveries.
Benefits
He sees two immediate benefits of returning to the moon. First, it affords the opportunity to learn more about the moon itself, and second, it provides a training ground for heading to Mars.
"The moon was formed around the same time as the Earth" but hasn't gone through the same biological and chemical changes, Parise said
"The moon is essentially the same as it was when formed, providing information about the evolution of the solar system," he said.
A crew can travel from Earth to the moon in about three days, while travel to Mars takes much longer. Scientists can learn how to set up the moon and use its natural resources.
"The moon gives us a place that's not quite as far away," he said.
It also could be a sort of training ground for learning about the issues that come up when people are isolated on a different planet.
denise.dick@vindy.com