RE: Obama Readies to Blast NASA... to the dustbin.
October 28, 2011 at 3:20 am
(This post was last modified: October 28, 2011 at 3:31 am by Jackalope.)
This truly saddens me. If we spent less bailing out criminally negligent corporations and warfare (and defense in general), we could easily continue these programs - which enable us to gather knowledge that we have no other way to learn.
I guess protecting business from it's own failures and killing people and breaking their stuff is more important than gaining a better understanding of our little corner of the Milky Way, and by extension ourselves.
Before he was elected, I would never have expected this sort of thing from Obama. While he did not get my vote (I abstained), I had far higher hopes than this when he took office.
Shell, for what it's worth, they aren't scrapping NASA, just the planetary exploration programs. Small consolation as planetary exploration is some of the best work that NASA does - and it does so far cheaper than in the past. We get very good value in terms of scientific knowledge for the dollars we spend.
An angry letter writing campaign is in order.
My son, like his dad before him, wants to be an astronaut. Sure, not everyone gets to BE an astronaut, but now even dreaming of becoming one is just that - a dream.
My own dream succumbed to reality when I entered the military and learned I was partially color-blind, making me ineligible for a career in military aviation. It was a nice dream at the time, though.
I guess protecting business from it's own failures and killing people and breaking their stuff is more important than gaining a better understanding of our little corner of the Milky Way, and by extension ourselves.
Before he was elected, I would never have expected this sort of thing from Obama. While he did not get my vote (I abstained), I had far higher hopes than this when he took office.
(October 27, 2011 at 10:26 pm)Shell B Wrote: This is ridiculous! We are sacrificing the forward momentum of our race to line the pockets of the already rich. By all means, scrap programs, but not the ones that represent what America should be and especially not the ones that set an example of the quest for knowledge. I was pissed enough when they cut NASA, but scrapping it altogether is bullshit.
Shell, for what it's worth, they aren't scrapping NASA, just the planetary exploration programs. Small consolation as planetary exploration is some of the best work that NASA does - and it does so far cheaper than in the past. We get very good value in terms of scientific knowledge for the dollars we spend.
An angry letter writing campaign is in order.
(October 27, 2011 at 11:38 pm)Cinjin Wrote: My son: "Papa, can I be a NASA space man some day?"
"No, you can't"
My son, like his dad before him, wants to be an astronaut. Sure, not everyone gets to BE an astronaut, but now even dreaming of becoming one is just that - a dream.
My own dream succumbed to reality when I entered the military and learned I was partially color-blind, making me ineligible for a career in military aviation. It was a nice dream at the time, though.
