David : I think you are right, but not as the prime reason, more like a political " bonus." There is a train of thought in the Democratic Party which is anti-Space. I think that is the driver behind BHO's decision. But while they are at it, may as well hit Texas in the groin for revenge. Plenty of astronauts upset with the plan. Best "new" argument --new to me but surely its been around for some time-- "We have invested close to 30 years in creation of the International Space Station, adding everything up including advance planning. After this year we won't even be able to get astronauts up to it and will need to pay the Russians $ 50 million per astronaut to get there. Maybe 5 years from now the station will be primarily Russian and maybe also Chinese." The astronauts also said what I said a few days ago, what dimwit came up with the idea of throwing away all of the infrastructure / experience of the manned Space program, which would take a decade to put together again when we need it ? Then , unless I heard wrong, BHO is reported to have said, "we've done the Moon, let us be "transformational" and send astronauts to an asteroid." WTH ? Its like he is utterly illiterate about Space and the value of a lunar base for any and almost all future manned missions. We now know where there is water on the Moon, and basically where there are exploitable minerals which can be used to manufacture various necessities for Space flight. It might take 20 years to get a base up and running, but under the new ( sick joke of a ) plan, the time horizon has been extended to a minimum of 30 years. We are dealing with the 2010 version of flat -earthers. or anti-Copernicans. All the while a trillion here and a trillion there for debt service , for bank bailouts with no requirement for banks to reciprocate the gvt's largesse with decent terms for loans to homeowners, etc, and that kind of garbage is High Priority. ? ? ? NASA, whatever its flaws, is an investment in the future and in real progress in high tech. But none of that counts, or, more accurately, doesn't count all that much since other stuff is FAR more important. This makes me almost literally sick. GWB, for all his flaws, approximately 4, 893 of them, just to tally the worst ones, did, at least, have the foresight and imagination to launch the Constellation program to create a new generation of heavy lift rockets and the like. Now, in the name of "do more with less," forget about that, and underwrite small scale commercial development. OK. That is a decent enough idea, worth a spare billion or so. But at the cost of junking the serious projects ? We have 747s and all successor aircraft because we had the B 47 and B 52 first. Sure, I'm all for the new light commercial Space craft. That is all for the good. But to actually get serious payload into orbit ? But, hey, who needs serious payload if you hate the military and regard Space as frivolous ? Where is Scoop Jackson when we need him most ? I think I'm gonna puke. Billy ============================================== In a message dated 4/15/2010 9:02:39 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
29th and 7th are Houston area, of course. NASA proper is in the 22nd though I believe. It's held by a Republican. So NASA must be punished. Texas in general must be punished for not voting for The One. David "Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for people than people do is a swine."--P. J. O’Rourke On 4/15/2010 2:47 PM, [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) wrote: Green, a Democrat, represents the 29th Congressional District of Texas; Culberson, a Republican, represents the 7th District. Americans in Space: A Dream of the Past? By U.S. Reps. GENE GREEN and JOHN CULBERSON April 14, 2010 It was a starry summer night some 41 years ago when a small, odd-looking vehicle landed in the Tranquilitatis Basin on the face of the moon. Approximately 250,000 miles from Earth the Eagle had landed, and with it the hopes and dreams of the human race were carried to new heights. Today the United States manned space program lies in deep peril as our ability to reach destinations such as the moon, Mars and beyond continues to slip to indefinite timetables. If Congress accepts the president's budget proposal on NASA's Constellation program — a program that enjoys bipartisan support — Constellation will be eliminated from the federal budget, effectively ending the era of American leadership in space. The manned space program has preserved our leadership in space exploration for nearly five decades. It has also sparked the technological and scientific advancements that have kept America competitive in the global economy. Canceling the manned space program puts our security and prosperity at risk. The arguments for maintaining the Constellation program are simple. First, it will cost at least $2.5 billion just to shut down Constellation within NASA, and this figure does not include the unknown cost to contractors. It is senseless to cancel a tested and proven system in hopes that a nonexistent industry will emerge and someday achieve the same feat of carrying humans to space. Second, the Russians are charging us more than $50 million per seat to access low-earth orbit, a bill that taxpayers will have to foot for our own astronauts as well as provide crew access for our European and Japanese allies to whom we are obligated by International Space Station partnership agreements. Finally, with no replacement to the shuttle and the subsequent Russian monopoly on human access to space, there will be nothing to stop the Russians from raising our costs when it comes time for our countries to renegotiate the rate they will charge us. Apollo Astronaut Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, recently remarked, “History demonstrates that the evolution of technology is subject to a need — a challenge, a crisis or a combination thereof, such as Apollo, WWII, or energy independence. First comes the mission, then comes the development of technology to accomplish the established goals.†Without a mission and a destination, the technology will not develop and the billions of tax dollars we have invested in the program will die on the proverbial vine. Constellation is our only hope to close the current five-year gap in U.S. access to space, and closing the gap is the key to capturing the passion, support and enthusiasm of the next generation the same way President Kennedy's space race captured ours. NASA's manned space program has created a class of citizen heroes unlike any the world has known. Only in America can children of no means grow up to be the Columbuses and the Magellans of our time, funded not by the gold and gems of monarchs, but by a democracy committed to the daring and unending pursuit of knowledge. This unique aspect of our history is now in danger of becoming a footnote. Shutting down Constellation sends the dangerous and irresponsible message to our children and grandchildren that education and progress no longer matter. As members of Congress, Texans, and most importantly fathers, we urge the president to consider the effect this decision will have on future generations. _______________________________________________ Centroids mailing list: [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) _http://radicalcentrism.com/mailman/listinfo/centroids_radicalcentrism.com_ (http://radicalcentrism.com/mailman/listinfo/centroids_radicalcentrism.com) Archives at _http://radicalcentrism.org/pipermail/centroids_radicalcentrism.com/_ (http://radicalcentrism.org/pipermail/centroids_radicalcentrism.com/) _______________________________________________ Centroids mailing list: [email protected] http://radicalcentrism.com/mailman/listinfo/centroids_radicalcentrism.com Archives at http://radicalcentrism.org/pipermail/centroids_radicalcentrism.com/
_______________________________________________ Centroids mailing list: [email protected] http://radicalcentrism.com/mailman/listinfo/centroids_radicalcentrism.com Archives at http://radicalcentrism.org/pipermail/centroids_radicalcentrism.com/
