For me, it isn’t a libertarian thing to eliminate the manned space program.
The fact is, NASA has bungled the job since the end of Apollo. The Shuttle program has been a huge money pit, Skylab augered in, and now we’re flinging money into a space station that is being used more as a piece of international relations than a space program.
NASA does far better at unmanned space exploration. As soon as you put a man into a mission, the complexity and cost go up exponentially. For what we’re pissing away on manned space shots, we could be sending probes all over the place, developing hard science.
NASA isn’t anything like a “manifestation of our pioneer spirit.” It is an outgrowth of the defense sector from WWII, where they carved out a “civilian” space program to make it look like it wasn’t being run by the military (ie, USAF).
Get used to this one over-riding fact of our future: We’re broke. Utterly and completely broke. Serious cost-cutting is coming, because the alternative will be a devaluation of the US dollar that will destabilize the world.
Get used to this one over-riding fact of our future: We’re broke. Utterly and completely broke. Serious cost-cutting is coming, because the alternative will be a devaluation of the US dollar that will destabilize the world.
I'm told that you are a small but vocal minority here. Also that this is "moonbattery" (what you're talking about) ... and that most FReepers are Pro-NASA ...
So..., I guess that means I should ignore you ... LOL ...
Couldn’t disagree more.
Shuttle has not been a waste.
Yes it did not deliver on its original promises. It was no cheap and it is not as safe as we wanted it.
I guess a massive reuseable space plane having never been done before was too much to bite off.
But America used to take on such challenges once.
But the experience of flying this craft, learning to function, learning to build and repair, learning even from our tragedies are neccesary steps to go beyond.
We learn by doing. It can’t all be large accomplishments like Apollo. There are hard lessons to learn and hard boring work to do as well.
Sure, I wish the Saturn V had not been walked away from. But we have what we have.
And the spinoffs are there, the inspiration is there to kids. How many films show brave shuttle crews saving the day?
The Space Station is just recently being finished. We do not know it’s full legacy yet as many years of research aboard it remains to be done.
These endeavors most assuredly ARE demonstrable actions of our pioneering spirit.
Life is leaping of this earth. That is a fundamental force, life expands and transforms.
It’s part of a larger picture.
The nations that lead on the frontiers, dictate the course of human history.
“You have to keep pushing the frontier not just because it’s there, but because that’s how we find things that end up changing humanity,” -Paul Hill, Mission Control