RUSSIA TO GET 40 NEW INTERCONTINENTAL MISSILES THIS YEAR
Russia warns of 'new military confrontation' in Europe
Posted on 06/15/2015 9:49:42 AM PDT by SoConPubbie
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz supports NASA's human space exploration program as a national priority that deserves congressional support.
USA Today reports if NASA's program goes as planned, astronauts could travel to Mars by the 2030s.
Cruz, a Tea Party Republican, said developing a rocket and capsule that could cost tens of billions of dollars is "critical" to ensuring American's leadership in space.
"It is imperative that America has the capability to get to the space station without the assistance of the Russians," Cruz said Tuesday while chairing a hearing before the Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee on Science, Space and Competitiveness. "The Commercial Crew Program is critical to restoring this capability."
Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, the top Democrat on the space subcommittee, also supports more funding for the space program.
"We shouldn't be relying on the Russians to ride (to the space station)," Nelson said referring to tensions between Washington and Moscow over Ukraine. "They were a reliable partner ... but we can't predict what Vladimir Putin is going to do now."
Yet, Former Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, is not in favor of the space program.
"In the '70s, we learned how to go and land on the moon and stay and do some things there," Aldrin said. "To do that again 50 years later just does not seem to be something that would be attractive."
Former Apollo 7 astronaut Walt Cunningham said NASA's funding amounts to about one-half of one percent of the federal budget so debating about the space program is just academic at the moment.
"Unless Congress decides to put more money in it, this is just talk we're going through here," he told the senators. "The budget has to go up."
The trip to Mars could face major delays if the funding is not increased. It is not clear if Cruz's public support of NASA's human exploration may translate into more funding.
This was during my elementary school days when they taught to duck & cover under our school desk in the event of a nuclear attack by the USSR.
It wasn't until the end of the space shuttle program that we had to thumb a ride to the space station.
Yes indeed, I remember those drills in school.
They seemed to stop in the early 70s.
Not at all. Washington was a brave man.
If Washington isn’t available, I’ll probably vote Constitution party. My state is solidly republican in presidential races, so any major party vote on my part is thrown away. Besides, I can’t think of a single GOP candidate whom I don’t regard with contempt.
Thanks for the link to that article. I like its emphasis a lot, on the need for employers to be pro-active in developing the skills that workers need.
We didn’t have a rocket capable of launching a satellite until the Soviets shocked us into using our pet Nazis. Werner von Braun and the other scientists we got through operation paperclip.
Our first generation of space capable rockets were just V 2’s on steroids.
Once von Braun and his boys were given the keys to the science lab, things really picked up.
Prior to Sputnik, the Army kept the German transplants on a short leash.
As long as the engineers don't do something as stupid as JJ Abrams did in Star Trek and build the thing on the planet's surface.
RUSSIA TO GET 40 NEW INTERCONTINENTAL MISSILES THIS YEAR
Russia warns of 'new military confrontation' in Europe
There was no such drills in the USSR. I wonder what possible action would be for those who survived nuclear strike?
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