Posted on 06/28/2008 11:40:04 PM PDT by Names Ash Housewares
Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the Moon, has issued a stark warning that America must invest now in the space agency Nasa, or surrender leadership of space exploration to Russia and China.
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Aldrin revealed that he intends to lobby Barack Obama and John McCain, the two US presidential candidates, in an effort to ensure they find sufficient funds for Nasa's goal to establish a permanent base on the Moon and then send a manned mission to Mars.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Obama has already explicitly stated that he’ll cancel the Constellation program for at least 5 years if elected. So, after we retire the shuttle in 2010, we’ll have to pay the Chinese, Russians or others if we want to go into space...
Buzz will have a hard time reaching him. If not impossible.
Exploration and pushing forward, risk, reward, pushing back the horizon. That is what made America what it is.
Of course Obama would not value this.
I wonder. Are they?
BTW, which country is closer to Mars? If we take off at the same time they take off and we go the same speed, who gets there first?
The Atlas 5 rocket is being made man capable and the program isn’t in NASA’s hands. It’s being funded privately so if the NASA funded manned rocket doesn’t get off the ground there will at least be a backup but it won’t be suited for anything other than orbital flight.
Good thing JFK didn't think the same way.
Thanks to Clinton’s buddy Bernie Schwartz of Loral, that might have helped.
They are getting ready for a space walk on the their next mission.
China believes if it takes 1000 years even, they they will be the dominate nation.
Elon Musk, who made a fortune by founding and selling PayPal is doing a few new companies as encores. SpaceX is using modern technology to improve commercial space travel http://spacex.com/, and Tesla Motors http://www.teslamotors.com/ produces some amazing electric super-cars.
It would probably be a lot more effective to invest in private industry than in massive government bureaucracies.
Gonna take both.
Private industry is not into long term pay off.
They need profits in a reasonable time.
Gubmint can plot far longer course for strategic purposes.
That depends on the exact time of take-off.
The Chinese? Their space program is where ours was half a century ago.
I support our space program, but I don’t think pumping up the Chinese to be some kind of fierce space competition is going to help anybodies credibility.
Ahem, that would be NASA, and not Nasa.
There is no will to race for space anymore. The astronauts who laid their lives on the line were told a LIE.
Pastor Wright said that the moon landings were faked.
The media overlooked that bullsh*t from Obama’s pastor and mentor of 20 years.
China invented the rocket.
Apparantly you have not been watching “When We Left Earth” on the Discovery channel.
Commander Elleen Collins more then explained why astronauts go into space.
I put more then enough trust into her reasons and Buzz’s motivations.
The only lie is told by people that say space isn’t worth the blood and treasure.
It is.
Also, you mention how they are using 40 year old technology.
Our NEXT generation of shuttle systems will fall BACK to the Saturn V rocket systems of 45 years ago. And we tossed out the specs. So we are back at the drawing board and buying back old historic documents these days.
FASTER STRONGER BETTER NEWER repeat mantra ad nauseum.
Sometimes our “evolution” of design is NOT for the best.
Some interesting observations about these “alternate” environments come up. Things we don't even consider on Earth.
Anyway, every single one of them I have seen interviewed in the past 30 years has been let down by the lack of any further manned missions into outer space.
The space station does not take us deeper into space. It is “skylab XXXXXXX”. An orbiting laboratory. Nothing more.
Every 15 years or so astronauts died in their mission. Their lives WERE laid on the line. (Apollo 12, Discovery, Challenger plus men in the water tank at Johnson).
So for them to give the utmost commitment to deep space travel and see NO return for the past 3 decades of a 4.5 decade endeavor is a betrayal. Nothing but. They gave their lives for a lie.
Nobody “gave” their life.
They took risks they felt was worht it, both for personal reasons and otherwise.
Get off this “lie” garbage.
I have NEVER heard any astronaut say such a thing.
Again, you need to watch “When We Left Earth”.
Maybe you need to listen closer.
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