As the shuttle program ends, Americans will have to hitch a ride on Russian rockets.

We are a nation that thrives on discovery. We push the envelope, test the impossible and explore new frontiers.

This persistent can-do mentality and unyielding passion is at the heart of the United States’ commitment to space exploration.

Or so it was.

Today, we are at a significant turning point. On July 21, 2011, the Space Shuttle Atlantis touched down on Earth after completing a 13-day mission to the International Space Station, marking the end of the Space Shuttle Program. After 30 years and 135 missions, we now turn the page on the Space Shuttle Program, only to find a blank page and uncertain future for American space exploration.

But let’s turn back the pages to the start of the Cold War, when the United States first created its space program, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and President John F. Kennedy challenged the nation to land a man on the moon. Shortly thereafter, American science and technology flourished in the space race against the Soviet Union. Then, in 1969, NASA reached its goal as Apollo 11 successfully landed on the moon and Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on its surface. Indeed, it’s a chapter we all know by heart and take pride in as Americans.

Since then, following the conclusion of the triumphant Apollo program, NASA created the Space Shuttle Program to serve as a low-cost reusable space vehicle, capable of carrying eight astronauts and substantial payloads into space. As a result, the program has enabled the construction of the International Space Station, provided a cost effective method of retrieving and repairing satellites and facilitated the successful operation of the Hubble telescope, which has peered deep into space and helped us explain the origin of the universe.

However, over the past 30 years, NASA has slowly lost the financial priority it once held in the government, with a budget today of about 0.5 percent of the federal budget compared to the nearly 4.5 percent it was receiving at the height of the space race. With the current budget cuts in Washington, some of NASA’s principal programs, like the John Webb telescope, which serves as Hubble’s successor, are in financial jeopardy.

In 2004, President George Bush outlined his plan for NASA to return to the moon by 2020 following the retirement of the Space Shuttle Mission. Such a goal, he believed, would ultimately serve as a stepping-stone to sending mankind to Mars and beyond.

Nevertheless, President Barack Obama has eliminated funding for this plan and has not set a definitive goal for the future of American space exploration. Instead, Obama has left Cape Canaveral’s launch pads vacant and opened the door of privatization into American space exploration, leaving us to wonder when American manned space flight will resume. As a nation, we now risk no longer being at the forefront of discovery.

The fact of the matter is that Obama had the opportunity to inspire a new generation. He could have laid the foundation for a new era of space exploration and set our target at getting mankind to Mars with the same motivating spirit that Kennedy generated in the space race.

As a country falling behind in mathematics and science education, it is a shame to diminish NASA – the crowning achievement of American engineering – that inspires children and sets the tone of a country’s priorities. Rather, imagine how the revival of NASA to its original glory would invigorate national pride and continue to advance American science and technology on an ever-competitive global stage.

For now, as other countries like China, India and Japan blast off into the final frontier, American astronauts wait on the ground or travel to the International Space Station aboard a Russian rocket.