1 Topic by jonfree25

  • jonfree25
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  • Registered: Sat Aug 21 04
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Topic: More about future of NASA

While I do agree that Obama is a sleazy Chicago politician, I know that in the long run he makes smarter decisions than any of his just as sleazy Republican counterparts... always.  Even when it seems like a bad decision, there is always more than meets the eye.

Case in point, killing the Constellation program to raise NASA's budget and sharpen its focus to cooperation with private sectors and other nations:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/space/02/0 … tml?hpt=C2

A few interesting excerpts:

The committee's review found Constellation wouldn't send astronauts to the moon until "well into the 2030s," instead of 2020, as projected. Funding would have to be increased to keep the program going. And NASA's scheduled $99 billion investment in human space exploration over 10 years "appears to be on an unsustainable trajectory," the report said.

The change is a fresh start that puts needed emphasis on space exploration beyond the moon, he said. Buzz Aldrin, one of the first men to set foot on the moon in 1969, also issued a statement on his Web site in support of the changes.  "The truth is that we have already been to the Moon -- some 40 years ago," he wrote. "A near-term focus on lowering the cost of access to space and on developing key, cutting-edge technologies to take us further, faster, is just what our Nation needs to maintain its position as the leader in space exploration for the rest of this century."


Larry Young, a former astronaut and the Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics at MIT . . . praised the budget's reinvestment in space science research and emphasis on international cooperation on space flight, but said it saddens him that the U.S. may not longer send its own rockets into orbit.

Monday's budget proposal would increase NASA's overall budget by $6 billion over the next five years, even while it cuts the agency's moon-exploration program.

That has led groups like The Planetary Society to say the Obama Administration maintains a genuine commitment to space exploration, even as it plans to nix Constellation.


The only downside I can see is that the "Superiority of the U.S. to other nations! blah blah blah...."  the cold war is over.  Learn to work together or fail. 

The private space market is where its at.  Just look at Aliens:)

"Hours? Days? Weeks? BE SPECIFIC MAN, IT'S YOUR NAME!!!"
-The Diddy Collective

2 Reply by jonfree25

  • jonfree25
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Re: More about future of NASA

Shit.  Sorry to double post.  The telling part seems to be that astronauts and NASA officials agree with the plan:

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden tried to downplay fears about the shift.

"Imagine trips to Mars that take weeks instead of nearly a year; people fanning out across the inner solar system, exploring the Moon, asteroids and Mars nearly simultaneously in a steady stream of firsts ... That is what the president's plan for NASA will enable, once we develop the new capabilities to make it a reality," Bolden said in a conference call with reporters.



I knew it was strange that Bush was supporting the stand alone NASA.  I guess that's just more Republican competition and thinking with your dick.

"Hours? Days? Weeks? BE SPECIFIC MAN, IT'S YOUR NAME!!!"
-The Diddy Collective

3 Reply by P3

  • P3
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Re: More about future of NASA

First of all Charlie Bolden is not an astronaut.  He is a politically motivated manager with billions of dollars at his disposal and a vested interest in keeping his job.  Secondly, private enterprise can barely get it's shit together well enough to keep itself sustained now.  What makes anyone think that all of these new wonderful things will result once the space program gets privatized.  Who is going to invest billions of dollars to fund the efforts of private companies as they churn out this new technology without even a whisper of how they plan on making a profit with it.  Who has this kind of money?  Hmmm, let's see, Chase, Bank America, Wells Fargo.  Where did they get the money to lend?  Why Obama gave it to them as a trillion dollar bail out package.  See the picture now?  Keeps making those rich people richer.  Yes We Can!

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