Because illegals and minorities would rather have freebies.
This is what it all boils down to. We will keep losing things until we stop the Detroit/New Orleans freeloader models.
I think this is part of an agreement by Obama and the Russians to let them dominate space and begin to be a world power again.
So Obama can level the playing field with China and Russia.
0bama0 would rather deny these people of the funds they might donate to opposing political views, and send the money to his pals at ACORN, or the SEIU.
N.A.S.A. has its head up its ass.
They have known for years the shuttle was getting old.
They did squat to get in position for replacement.
They say that as the fleet gets older the liklyhood is another catastrophy will happen.
N.A.S.A. lost its edge and became little more than another very large gub mint black hole.
Maybe we’re not ready, yet, for comfortable, near space flight for civilians. Here are a couple of reasons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaKSrOpLJPo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oBTzbKx0jo
And there were the costs. ...not to mention personnel (oh, excuse me, “human resources”) problems. Maybe we could do better with space travel in a less politically correct country, after the big default, perhaps.
0bama did say he was going to slash the budget and debt. Guess this is how he plans to do it. Eliminate our space program, eliminate the F-22, reduce the F-35 program ...
NASA has decided that tracking Global Warming is their primary mission. As maintenance intensive as the old shuttle is, they don’t have time to keep it running and also rewrite the AGW database every time the numbers come in “wrong”, which seems to be every year. We also don’t have the money to do something useful (like build the scheduled shuttle replacement) while Obama/Pelosi’s priority is massive payoffs to UAW, SEIU, society’s parasites, and other Dem interest groups.
You will die before you get my 5-6 gallons a week of pasteurized milk away from me!!!!
When the shuttle was being developed it was touted as a “space going DC3”. It turned out to be a space going Hindenburg - a piece of brittle technology that tends to kill large numbers of people who operate it.
We really need a replacement for it. Unfortunately our leaders have driven our nation’s economy over a cliff and about the only major thing they can find to cut is the shuttle’s replacement (which was no great shakes itself).
The problem started in 1968 with a man named Walter Mondale who used the witch hunt in the wake of the Apollo pad fire to build his political career. The left wing of the democratic party joined in and Nixon caved, canceling the last four Apollo missions - to “save money”. Since that time factionalism, the great enemy of republics, has made it impossible to put any program together that lasted more that one administration. The sad truth is, America no longer has the social cohesion necessary to achieve great goals. And if history is any guide, this country probably never have will again.
Why cancel it? Because it was a good idea but poorly executed. The reusable space craft was supposed to save money, but the cost per pound to orbit is still way too high.
We should have a two-level system: one man-rated craft for lifting astronauts into orbit, and one heavy lifter craft. Boost the cargo into orbit and then boost the astronauts separately and they can rendezvous with the cargo for any missions that require human intervention. It makes no sense to use a man-rated craft for lifting cargo.
The present NASA boondogglers should have read more Heinlein.
Because it was a gutless, stupid, pointless program intended to cover up the fact that we no longer had the will or the skills necessary for interplanetary manned exploration?