He could have a planetoid named after him-
Posted on 02/08/2014 11:04:54 AM PST by Marcus
It is a commentary on how adrift NASA space policy is when one considers that four years after President Obama made his "we choose not to return to the moon" speech that the space agency may be pivoting back to the moon.
Paul Spudis, a planetary geologist and return to the moon advocate, has read the tea leaves and has seen the first, tentative steps toward a pivot back to the moon. Elon Musk, the space entrepreneur and political ally of Barack Obama, has recently conceded that expeditions to the moon would be useful. NASA is partnering with private companies, under the CATALYST program, to build commercial lunar landers.
Furthermore no one has heard much of anything about the president's bright vision of visiting an asteroid in months. Even NASA seems to have come to the conclusion on how boring that idea is.
To be sure, not everyone is thrilled. Hank Campbell, writing in Science 2.0., conceded that returning to the moon might be useful (sort of), so long as NASA is kept out of it.
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.yahoo.com ...
He could have a planetoid named after him-
How about America pay some attention to keeping the terrorist barbarians outside our gates by securing our borders before venturing off onto another expensive space adventure?
Talking about trips to the moon while illegals pour into our country unabated is akin to discussing which expensive restaurant you want to try while water from broken pipes floods your house. Priorities.
And yes... I realize this would be a nominally “joint” public-private venture, but the majority of the $$$$ will come from taxpayers.
So how does this make Muslims feel better about themselves? Thats what is most important.
They must have just realized that the Muzzies worship the moon.
With what? a slingshot and some hope and change?
the heavily subsidized commercial space programs were Republican ideas not identified with Bush, whom Obama hates nearly as much as he does the memory of Churchill.
NASA is being run like all the administration's other toys that Congress created and spinelessly handed over the the executive branch in the 20th century.
"O Say Can You See By the Dawn's Early Light?"
It was only a matter of time.
While the STS was technologically impressive, it was also a 30+ year dead-end which helped transform NASA from a source of US prestige into yet another pork barrel for some congressional committee members.
Any serious effort to send human missions to Mars or (as Zero would have us believe) asteroids has to begin with a from-scratch lunar program. Any human missions beyond Earth’s gravity well require a big booster, and missions out of the Earth-Moon system means lunar missions have to become routine first.
Thanks Marcus.
earlier on FR:
The Biggest Rocket Ever made
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3112069/posts
NASA reveal[s] plans for the biggest rocket ever made to take man to Mars...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3112276/posts
Let me guess, we’re reconsidering the moon because the Chinese said they plan to go there?
Zero pulled the plug on the STS, and more recently extended the US committment to the ISS, which means astronauts are using Soviet-era technology launched from Kazakhstan to get into orbit. Other than the astronauts who do it, I think we’d be hard pressed to find anyone with any further interest in orbital space. NASA, like any bureaucracy, but also unlike any bureaucracy, is looking for a raison d’etre. I was looking for a reason to use that one in a sentence. ;’)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.