Houston native to head moon-Mars panel

Houston Chronicle ^ | January 19, 2004 | AP

[Cincinatus' Wife]

WASHINGTON -- The man chosen to lead the way to the moon and Mars is a one-time astronaut trainee and former Defense Department hotshot who is almost giddy about outer space travel.

"It's going to be fun," Pete Aldridge said in an interview. "My goodness, the president says this is what we're going to do."

President Bush appointed Aldridge, 65, to head a commission charged with figuring out how to carry out the president's vision and bring in industry and other countries as partners.

In 1986, Edward Cleveland "Pete" Aldridge was training to fly on a space shuttle as a payload specialist, or non-career astronaut, right before the Challenger explosion. His flight was scrapped after Challenger erupted in a fireball during liftoff.

A few months later, Aldridge was appointed Secretary of the Air Force under President Reagan.

Born in Houston, home of most astronauts, Aldridge has degrees in aeronautical engineering and currently serves on Lockheed Martin Corp.'s board of directors. He retired from the Defense Department last spring after working 18 years at the Pentagon.

At the time, he was serving under Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. He says he was looking forward to "a more relaxed period of my career," and like many government retirees he was enjoying the Florida sunshine early last week.

He got the call from Bush just two days before the president announced his new moon-Mars plan and rushed to Washington to be there for the speech.

Aldridge didn't immediately know who would be on his commission or when the first meeting might be. He said the president will appoint the other members, probably no more than 15, all experts from both the private and public sector.

The commission will offer advice on Bush's plan but will not pitch alternative ideas, Aldridge said -- like skipping the moon and heading straight to Mars.

"The purpose of going to the moon is a step to go to Mars," he said, and the commission won't challenge that concept. "We're not going in and saying, 'Well, Mr. President, we believe you're wrong.'"

Bush asked Aldridge to report back to him within four months of the commission's first meeting.

Bush wants astronauts on the moon by 2020, possibly as early as 2015, but the president has no time frame for a Mars landing by humans. NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said that would depend on how quickly a new crew exploration vehicle can be developed and how everything else falls into place.

"We'll get there (Mars) when it's time, like a good wine. Not before it's time," Aldridge said with a smile.

As for what all this will cost, Aldridge repeated the president's position that the program is affordable roughly within NASA's budget, with a slight increase. He said he does not worry that the venture may be launched with too little money.

"Trying to do something cheaply is a first indication of failure," he said. "It can't be done that way."

[CasearianDaoist]

Well maybe they will do a good job of explaining it. If I was a young person I would be really pumped. A nation has a soul that must be fead, it is not allabout technology or spinoff - ask any sputnik brat. As it is I may bid on some work. Golly I would love that, even if my firm just broke even.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

It's another chance for GWB to expand government. The politicians are already telling the engineers what type of spacecraft to build, and the scientists what kind of science to do.

Really? I think I hear a lot of scientists whining about their programs being retooled or cut. This isn't going to please everyone but someone had to step in and clean up this mess. Thank God Bush had the guts to do it.

[Mr.Atos]

"Our kids need similar dreams."

This is another good point. Our children need dreams period. The Left has thoroughly exorcised any notions of joy and hope from modern American culture instead focusing children on humanity's misery, their own sexuality, and hyper-reality of industrialized entertainment, and the drugs. Star Trek has given way to "I'll Buy That For A Dollar" and "LA Bimbos Go Farmin'! About 8 years ago, I had a young girl tell me she wanted to grow up and be an astronaut and I about fell over from shock. I want to see children aiming for the stars again. I want to see the joy of the adventure put a gleam in their eye. I want to see it all in my lifetime.

Atos

[vannrox]

"...Bush wants astronauts on the moon by 2020, possibly as early as 2015..."

OK. I am glad that we are going bck to the Moon. But I have a problem with the timeline. John Kennedy announced in 1963 that we were going to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. That turned out to be in 1969. So, from pronouncement to reality was six years.

Now, thirty years later...

We are going to return to the moon, with a major technological edge, and it is expected to take as long as 2020...or 15 years? Why the great time difference?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

We are going to return to the moon, with a major technological edge, and it is expected to take as long as 2020...or 15 years? Why the great time difference?

I agree. Certainly we can do it sooner.

[Mr.Atos]

You might like this. Its one of the most touching contemporary 'rock' songs I have every heard, compliments of The Sundays...

MONOCHROME

it's 4 in the morning July in ë69

me and my sister

we crept down like shadows

they're bringing the moon right down

to our sitting room

static and silence

and a monochrome vision

they're dancing around

slow puppets silver ground

and the world is watching with joy

we hear a voice from above

and it's history

and we stayed awake

all night

and something is said and the whole room laughs aloud

me and my sister

looking on like shadows

the end of an age as we watched them walk in a glow

lost in space

but I don't know where it is

they're dancing around

slow puppets silver ground

and the stars and the stripes in the sand

we hear a voice from above

and it's history

and we stayed awake

all night

they're dancing around

it sends a shiver down my spine

and I run to look in the sky and

I half expect to hear them asking to come down

will they fly or will they fall?

to be excited

by a long late night

All lyrics and music copyright © 1996 Geffen music and the Sundays. All rights reserved.

Atos

[Cincinatus' Wife]

This is another good point. Our children need dreams period.

That's for certain. Look at what interests them now.

[ambrose]

Our kids need similar dreams.

Yup... a serious effort to land on Mars could inspire a new generation of kids to enter the sciences.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

and we stayed awake all night they're dancing around it sends a shiver down my spine and I run to look in the sky and I half expect to hear them asking to come down will they fly or will they fall? to be excited by a long late night

I remember. It was a wonderful.

[ambrose]

Check this out... I think it will be going on my NetFlix list:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00009XYYF/qid=1074547803//ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i0_xgl74/002-2970840-0176858?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846

[TruthNtegrity]

Bumping for the great thoughts on this thread.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

How could it not be interesting!?

This is coming out soon.

[Mr.Atos]

There was a book published about 5 years ago, that consisted only of photographs taken during the moon missions. I cannot recall the name of the book, and I wished I had purchased a copy. It was stunningly beautiful.

Atos

[Moonman62]

Really? I think I hear a lot of scientists whining about their programs being retooled or cut. This isn't going to please everyone but someone had to step in and clean up this mess. Thank God Bush had the guts to do it.

GWB is ditching the programs that NASA does well: space telescopes, and robot explorers, and replacing them with what NASA doesn't do well, manned missions. And you really think it's a good idea for GWB to tell them what type of spacecraft to build? Somebody will have to clean up this mess alright, but after GWB is gone. On the bright side, perhaps this will accelerate the demise of the goverment's control of space exploration.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

GWB is ditching the programs that NASA does well: space telescopes, and robot explorers, and replacing them with what NASA doesn't do well, manned missions.

Where did Bush say he was ditching telescopes and robot explorers? I guess I was washing my hair. Please give me the quote.

[ambrose]

GWB is ditching the programs that NASA does well: space telescopes, and robot explorers, and replacing them with what NASA doesn't do well, manned missions.

You think the Apollo missions were a failure?

[BlacKnight]

Hey Californians, GW was right…. No Illegal Aliens here!! /A>

[orionblamblam]

> GWB is ditching the programs that NASA does well: space telescopes, and robot explorers

Errr... no. Right now, our robot explorers are goign hither and yon with no set purpose... we're looking at Mars just to look at Mars, essentially. But under the revised policy, we'll have robots that are going to various targets to do various things for a specific end goal. And Hubble is getting old and creaky, and maintenance is very expensive (about half a billion for a Shuttle flight); feel free to BUY Hubble, and maintain it.


>And you really think it's a good idea for GWB to tell them what type of spacecraft to build?

Nothing like that has occured, so far as is known.

[monkeywrench]

"...figuring out how to carry out the president's vision and bring in industry and other countries as partners."

Any idea what other countries?

[Moonman62]

You think the Apollo missions were a failure?

Nope, but when was the last one? We've lost two shuttles and 14 lives. One because of a piece of rubber. The other because of a piece of foam.