"Get your ass to Mars!"
Posted on 07/23/2005 4:14:04 AM PDT by demlosers
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House Friday overwhelmingly endorsed President Bush's vision to send man back to the moon and eventually on to Mars as it passed a bill to set NASA policy for the next two years.
The bill passed 383-15 after a collegial debate in which lawmakers stressed their commitment to not just Bush's ambitious space exploration plans but also to traditional NASA programs such as science and aeronautics.
There is some tension between Congress and the White House over the balance between Bush's vision for space exploration and other NASA initiatives. Originally, the measure would have shifted $1.3 billion in funds from exploration to other NASA programs. But after administration objections lawmakers added the money back to the budget for exploration during floor debate. That was done by adding to the bill's bottom line -- now at $34.7 billion -- not at the expense of science and aeronautics.
Democratic Rep. Bart Gordon of Tennessee said Bush's ambitious moon and Mars missions "should not be done by cannibalizing other NASA missions.''
The bill is the first NASA policy measure -- its budget is funded by a separate bill -- to pass the House in five years. It advanced as the space agency tries to rebound from the Columbia disaster in February 2003 with the launch of the space shuttle Discovery next Tuesday.
The measure permits but does not explicitly endorse retiring the space shuttle fleet by 2010, as the administration would like to do. It directs the agency to launch a new crew exploration vehicle -- which would lack the full capabilities of the shuttle but could travel to the International Space Station -- as close to 2010 as feasible.
NASA's plans call for a new vehicle to be ready by 2014, which unnerves lawmakers who do not want the United States to have to rely on other countries to catch a lift to the space station.
A companion Senate measure approved by the Commerce, Science and Transportation panel last month would bar NASA from retiring the shuttle before a replacement vehicle is ready.
Both House and Senate bills also endorse a servicing and repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Without such a mission, the Hubble will fail when its gyroscopes and batteries wear out in the next few years, but the agency has not announced whether to let the telescope fail or whether it will undertake a costly manned repair mission.
"Congress endorses the President's Vision for Space Exploration,'' said Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y. "The United States will work to return to the moon by 2020, and then will move on to other destinations.''
The full Senate has yet to act on the NASA measure.
Regardless of the ringing endorsement Friday, NASA must still compete with other agencies for its budget in the annual appropriations process, which moves on a separate track. That promises to make it difficult to fulfill all of the policy recommendations made by the House on Friday.
Still, there was one lone voice against the bill. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., questioned spending billions to go to Mars when "day after day ... we're told we can't do enough for housing and we can't do enough for health care.''
"This is a fundamental debate the country ought to have ... about whether or not to commit these untold billions ... at the expense of other important programs,'' he said.
Would it be safe to assume you are a NASCAR fan? :-)
This is one thing I think is a good use for tax money. When I was a little kid, I remember the moon shots and thinking when I am grown up, we will have people on other planets. It seemed after we beat the USSR, we put NASA on the back burner.
What I see is an upright torch, symbolizing freedom
In my opinion, it is an attempt to be "too clever by half," to no particular purpose.
And by the way, OMIGI, "Welcome to Free Republic!"
Yep, you would think it was the 1960s again. (/sarcasm)
The upright bundle of rods surrounding an ax is in Latin termed a " fasces". It did indeed symbolize strength via national unity AND COMMON MAJOR NATIONAL GOALS, and for this reason was also used as a symbol and name of the modern Italian movement "Fascism".
Fascism was in its early phases popular in the West, particularly by politicians such as FDR who wished to emphasize national unity during a crisis. The symbol was on the flip side of the FDR dime. It may be possible - will have to look it up - that later editions of the dime changed to a torch to avoid embarrassing connotations.
Some things they don't teach you in Hot Galaxy Space Comix, no?
Yes and no. :-)
Some satellites "deal" in GPS time. (13 seconds off from UTC)
Nope. For the foreseeable future, since all exploration will be constrained to this solar system and will be in contact with the Earth, manned exploration will use either GPS or UTC time.
http://pocketcalculatorshow.com/nerdwatch/graphics/casio-cgw91.jpg
It shows the position of the nine planets in the solar system, as well as Halley's comet. It also has the dates of all total solar eclipses. Its date range is from 1901 to 2200.
I have one. :-)
Yeah. Why don't you do that? And while you're there, see if you can find out what the fasces symbol has to do with the business of getting a rocket to Mars?
Maybe that'll keep you busy.
A note to other readers: The fasces symbol has been used by countless organizations, from churches to the deeply irreligious. Using it is meant to convey the strength of organized purpose, not a rebirth of Mussolini's Fascist Italy. -- And now you can go back to your comics.
You're like a dose of sunshine. You know that, don't you?
By the way, are you sure the dates are accurate beyond 2100? That's not a leap year, you know.
:-)
By the way, are you sure the dates are accurate beyond 2100? That's not a leap year, you know.
As far as I know, all date calculations are correct. I will have to dig it out to be sure though.
"Business" is a pretty far-fetched term to use for this overweening monument to science fantasy. The fasces symbolize the policy much more aptly: it has all the economic use of the Pyramid of Giza, the national security potential of the Great Wall of China, the administrative transparency of the Versailles Hall of Mirrors, the humanitarian respect for safe work conditions of the Altar of Teotihuacan, the careful grounding in scientific theory of Stonehenge, and the tastefulness of Il Duce's New Rome.
It is a shame our Congress feels so obliged to play to this special interest that they must Board the Wittfogel Express with a nod to a project that makes past excesses of Oriental Despotism seem...But there I go again. By this time I have at least learned not to use difficult allusions to a constituency whose grounding in governmental theory comes from " Revenge of the Sith"
We're going to feel a real sense of pride when we look up at the moon and it is Red Chinese, and when everything west of the Mississippi is Red Chinese, and everything east of the Mississippi is Moslem. At least we won't be outraged that we didn't keep our tech advantage up to date.
And don't let the Mexicans beat us to inventing an anti-gravity machine. Write that check out to NASA now.
Now why does that not surprise me?
Somebody scratched you? I'm so sorry. No wonder you're in such a mood.
Or maybe I'm just confused. I should perhaps go back to my comic book on government theory and re-read it.
But I am glad that you approve of the mission. The Great Wall of China did have an impressive security function for a very long time, and the Priests of Teotihuacan never had an on-the-job injury!
Dang, Bob, you snooze you lose.
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