President-Elect Obama and NASA

@engineer,

engineer wrote:

Brandon9000 wrote:

This is very disappointing. We landed on the Moon in 1969, and now we cannot even do what our ancestors could do with space technology.

I disagree with this. I think we could repeat the moon landing today without a lot of effort, just a lot of money.

We might do many things, but we don't have the capability to fly to the Moon or anyplace comparable today, because we let it atrophy.

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Another indication that the U.S. is in the roman mode. On the way down.

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The technology in my cell phone would have been like magic when I was born. Now it's common. Just because we aren't a spacefaring species doesn't mean it can't happen or that other species haven't already done it. Maybe some other nation will have the foresight and spirit of adventure to lead the way, but our withdrawal inserts a big delay in the thing. We were ready and merely lacked the will or vision.

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"We will not put a man on the moon, by the end of this decawd"

wow when did obabma start speaking with a massachusetts accent

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Former shuttle astronaut Tom Jones:

Quote:

"Starting next year, and for the foreseeable future, we will launch just four Americans into space annually, as passengers on foreign rockets, to a space station slated to be decommissioned in 2020," Jones wrote in his Flight Notes blog. "What will Americans do in space beyond that gloomy date?"

He expects that China will pursue increasingly ambitious space goals and become the next country to send explorers into deep space. "We will watch, helpless to follow," he wrote.

Way to go, Obama. Thanks for cancelling Bush's "Return to the Moon" program, signalling that the US doesn't view the development of manned space travel as important.

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Yeah, Bush's return to the moon program to which he paid lip service, and for which he did nothing positive.

But hey, Brandon, i'm so happy for you! You have something else to bitch about when it comes to Mr. Obama. Space exploration, the program that never was!

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

-- Chicken Little

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My whole life, I have dreamed of humans going to the moon, Mars, etc. It's a marvelous concept. Except, right now, our economy is so screwed. We are hemorrhaging money at all levels. I reluctantly endorse putting off more costly programs, such as men on the moon, until we learn how to control our economy better. When they build infrastructure, stop shipping so many jobs overseas, fix health care, increase wages, etc. Maybe manned space travel after that.

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@edgarblythe,

Is it too naive to suggest that the space industrial complex and its related infrastructure building projects could be the next WPA or TVA or CCC?
http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/new-deal/a-list-of-new-deal-programs.html

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

Yeah, Bush's return to the moon program to which he paid lip service, and for which he did nothing positive.

Well, he did one positive thing, he started it.

Setanta wrote:

But hey, Brandon, i'm so happy for you! You have something else to bitch about when it comes to Mr. Obama.

Actually, I wasn't bitching very much about him. Now I'm bitching about something which he actually did do. I believe that's the criterion.

Setanta wrote:

Space exploration, the program that never was!

Well, it sure was once, wasn't it?

Setanta wrote:

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

-- Chicken Little

Inapplicable. I'm not warning that something terrible is imminent, which is what "the sky is falling" means. I'm protesting that the president cancelled my favorite government program, thus indicating the kind of pedestrian mentality that doesn't see the value of human space exploration.

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@edgarblythe,

edgarblythe wrote:

My whole life, I have dreamed of humans going to the moon, Mars, etc. It's a marvelous concept. Except, right now, our economy is so screwed. We are hemorrhaging money at all levels. I reluctantly endorse putting off more costly programs, such as men on the moon, until we learn how to control our economy better. When they build infrastructure, stop shipping so many jobs overseas, fix health care, increase wages, etc. Maybe manned space travel after that.

And, according to that philosophy, Columbus should get his funding any day now. It all comes down to what you think is important, and Obama has made his priorities clear. Me, I think that exploration and pushing the envelope are good for a society's general health.

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@Brandon9000,

Quote:

I'm not warning that something terrible is imminent, which is what "the sky is falling" means. I'm protesting that the president cancelled my favorite government program, thus indicating the kind of pedestrian mentality that doesn't see the value of human space exploration.

If this came as a surprise to you then you are a fool. It was widely reported at the time that Bush gave NASA the mission that 1) he did not seem that into it 2) that the nation did not seem that into it and finally 3) that it was highly likely that the program would never be funded.

It was a political move, by a weak president working in a broken political system, NASA was used as a pawn. What this means now that the few of you who actually cared about the program, to include how ever many at NASA came to belief that the program might actually happen, are upset and demoralized.

Dont take it out on Obama though.

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@Brandon9000,

Right now, it's like driving a Lamborghini to live in a shithouse.

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@edgarblythe,

edgarblythe wrote:

My whole life, I have dreamed of humans going to the moon, Mars, etc. It's a marvelous concept. Except, right now, our economy is so screwed. We are hemorrhaging money at all levels. I reluctantly endorse putting off more costly programs, such as men on the moon, until we learn how to control our economy better. When they build infrastructure, stop shipping so many jobs overseas, fix health care, increase wages, etc. Maybe manned space travel after that.

I don't think it's a 'budget cut' so much as it's a redirection of the funds (a budget cut I could live with):

Quote:

...senior administration officials say the spending freeze for some federal agencies is not going to apply to the space agency in this budget proposal. Officials said NASA was expected to see some "modest" increase in its current $18.7 billion annual budget " possibly $200 million to $300 million...

...the White House will direct NASA to concentrate on Earth-science projects " principally, researching and monitoring climate change "

Orlando Sentinel

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The bottom line is simple, if Man does not establish independent extra-terrestrial colonies, then Man's chances for long-term survival are diminished substantially.

It's clear Man is consuming, polluting and warring to such an extent that there will come a point that the earth will not longer be habitable for Man. Let alone an extra-terrestrial cataclysmic event, such as from an asteroidal-triggered extinction. It would not be the first time on earth, witness the end of the Age Of Dinosaurs.

I argue that the highest moral imperative is Man's long-term survival and as such the Space Program meets this criteria.

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@Chumly,

I would argue that man's highest moral imperative is to self-destruct before the earth is irreversibly damaged.

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@dyslexia,

Would you be kind enough to forward your worldly possessions before you off yourself for the betterment of Mother Earth?
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(kidding)

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@Irishk,

Quote:

I don't think it's a 'budget cut' so much as it's a redirection of the funds (a budget cut I could live with):

wrong, Bush gave NASA some seed money to start planning and to design a few things, but if were were going to do the project at about now we would need to seriously ramp up the NASA budget.

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@Chumly,

you're not getting the Porsche, I'm taking it with me when I go.

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@dyslexia,

Is it liquid cooled or air cooled? Since you've clearly decided to give it to me, I may not want it unless the cooling system meets with my satisfaction.

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@Chumly,

rofl

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President-Elect Obama and NASA

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