Obama orders a review of NASA's plan to return to the Moon

[msbae]

Can't say I didn't see this one coming...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090507/...ace_usa_budget

[flux_29]

I supose it's prudent, given the credit crunch.

[Alpha_Geek]

Space is empty, it has nothing in it, nothing at all. We need a bailout program!

[USS KG5]

Well they have to start clawing back the deficit somewhere.

[Norrin Radd]

Spend it on Mars, not the moon.

[hyzmarca]

Cut military spending by 90%, pocket 50% of it, and give the rest to NASA with a mandate to build an economical commercially viable shutlecraft and launch system that would permit daily launches and develop an orbital habitat capable of sustaining at least a quarter million civilians.

18.7 Billion for the entire agency? That's chump change. It's a joke. The military is getting around 711 Billion. Iraq and Afganistan alone are getting 170 Billion, and they're both substantially more hospitable than outer space is. They actually have atmospheres.

[msbae]

hyzmarca wrote:

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Cut military spending by 90%, pocket 50% of it, and give the rest to NASA with a mandate to build an economical commercially viable shutlecraft and launch system that would permit daily launches and develop an orbital habitat capable of sustaining at least a quarter million civilians.

18.7 Billion for the entire agency? That's chump change. It's a joke. The military is getting around 711 Billion. Iraq and Afganistan alone are getting 170 Billion, and they're both substantially more hospitable than outer space is. They actually have atmospheres.

That idea is not likely to happen. Also, where are you getting these numbers?

NASA may scrap plans to return to the Moon

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline...moon-base.html

So much for a way station between Earth and Mars... Perhaps scientists can shorten an Earth-Mars trip by employing solar sails on the spacecraft? It ought to be more economical than using rockets.

[JustAFriend]

Is anyone really surprised???

A large group of the current administration has wanted to eliminate the space programs for decades.

Back in the '70s and '80s it was Senator William Proxmire (D-Wisc) who championed slashing NASA to death:
"Proxmire earned the unending enmity of space advocates and science fiction fandomspace colonization, ultimately eliminating spending on said research from NASA's budget.[8] In response to a segment about space colonies run by the CBS program for his opposition to 60 Minutes; "it's the best argument yet for chopping NASA's funding to the bone .... I say not a penny for this nutty fantasy".[9] Arthur C. ClarkeLarry Niven retaliated by respectively writing the award winning stories Death and the Senator and The Return of William Proxmire. In a number of circles his name has become a verb, meaning to unfairly obstruct scientific research for political gain."

Scream to your Congressmen and Senators or we'll waste another 50 years like we have the last 30.....

[USS KG5]

hyzmarca wrote:

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Iraq and Afganistan alone are getting 170 Billion, and they're both substantially more hospitable than outer space is. They actually have atmospheres.

To be fair, as a rule, no-one shoots at you in outer space, and roadside bombs are pretty much impossible.

[Brent]

Real space colonization prolly won't happen for another 100 years at this rate

[Squiggy]

It wasn't going to happen any earlier than that anyway.

[DEWLine]

Not surprised, but saddened. Of course, there might be some pleasant surprises in store for a change. Naively hopeful of me, yes.

[hyzmarca]

What we need is an Extenction Level event, a nice asteroid strike that kills off 99% of Earth's population and renders the planet an uninhabitable wasteland for the survivors, to demonstrate how important NASA truly is.

[yellowdingo]

hyzmarca wrote:

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What we need is an Extenction Level event, a nice asteroid strike that kills off 99% of Earth's population and renders the planet an uninhabitable wasteland for the survivors, to demonstrate how important NASA truly is.

How about a Black Hole in the atmosphere of Venus. YOu should be able to achieve total evaccuation within 1000 years.

[Johnny Rico]

Well, this just prove my theory all along that it is the Left who, in all their ultimate wisdom, can't see the benefits the NASA program has achieved over the years.

Note that it was Bush who wanted to go back to the Moon. Just like JFK did in 1961.

Fuck the current budgetary problems. That's a temporary thing. We'll get back on our feet one day....when Obama is long and gone...not before...and if NASA is indeed cut, then we'll wonder what the fuck we did back in the early 2010s.

But all this goes back to the liberal montra..."Don't spend all that money [where-ever]....Let's spend it here." Well, we see where all that "spending here" is going, now don't we....BIG LABOR. Yeah...that creates jobs....what a frakkin' joke.