The head of NASA, the flying turkey, is concerned that sequestration may lead to budget cuts.
It may turn out that NASA will not send a crew to an asteroid in 2025. (I thought Bruce Willis did this years ago.) It may even stop the manned flight to Mars in 2030.
Had you heard of either of these projects? I hadn’t.
Do you care that the government may not carry them out? I don’t.
I was unaware of public support for these projects. My guess is that the public has not heard of them. But career employees at NASA had. These projects constitute their careers. If these are cut, NASA may have to fire people. This is unheard of inside the federal government.
So desperate is NASA’s head that he invokes the myth that NASA’s endless burden on taxpayers creates jobs. “In spite of this threat to our progress, however, we must remember that all of our investments in space are creating good jobs here on Earth and helping to inspire young people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math.”
In short, “We are unemployable at anything that customers would pay for voluntarily. Unless you want to see us having to earn our livings in the private sector at half our present pay, you had better tell Congress to roll back the sequester.”
Or we might miss out on NASA top project of understanding Muslims' contribution to space exploration. In case you didn't know it, that became a top priority for NASA after the current occupant of the White House moved in.
Make work projects, plenty of peons, plenty of bosses, plenty of T38's, plenty of chase and helicopters, plenty of land, plenty of private parks( NASA only). The supposition is that we will invent stuff to fly in space, and you can use it in industry. A false primise, so far we have, lets see powdercoat, WD40, Tang, and the oxygen generator. I don't think the oxy gen was invented by nasa. It is pretty pricey when evaluated, the things that we gain. We have to travel locally in the solar system of our sun, we don't live long enough to travel light years, we are too slow, need better propulsion systems, and a traveling repair man. So overspending in this area is discretional..
The last I heard about NASA was that obama gave them the new 'mission' of reaching out to muslums or some such nonsense. Time to defund it along with the EPA, TSA, Homeland Security and all the other committees that aren't mentioned in the Constitution and then start phasing out Social Security and Medicare. We need a standing army and that's about all we need. The rest can be covered by free enterprise.
Nobody will be laid off. No jobs will be cut. No reduction in spending. Never, not under Republicans, not under Democrats, never.
Where is Shane and Stan to tell us if it wasn't for NASA we would all still be living in the 1950's?
I could use another good laugh.
Trollin' trollin trollin'…
"Trollin' trollin trollin'… "
I see you are talking about yourself again Shane.
NASA's had some pretty sorry leadership for a number of years now, but make no mistake: American achievements in aerospace enabled a strong national defense through the Cold War, and continue to demonstrate our system's superiority to the rest of the world.
If we admit to SOME legitimate role for government then sending a mission to an asteroid is about as important as it gets, the quintessential role of even minimalist government. Somewhere out there are a dozen large asteroids with Earth's name on them that will cause extinction-level events if they are not diverted. Getting up-close and personal with asteroids should be highest on our list of priorities. There are several private efforts underway to mine asteroids and they will no doubt play a role if they get off the ground. But its vital role of defense necessitates that government push hard to develop the ability to intercept and steer asteroids as soon as possible.
Hmmm. We went to the moon; that’s great but what is the benefit? Not missile technology because we already had that. Not food preservation because we already had that. All we really accomplished was to rub the Russkie’s noses in it since we were first. (I can remember thinking like this as a child, but not as an adult)
So in the big scheme of things, all that NASA has done in the last 30 yrs is blow massive amounts of money down the poop hole and gotten how many astronauts killed?
It’s time to stop the insanity. Now they’re looking for life on Mars? Why? So they can abort it? Dumbazzes. There’s no life there. And their failure to heed Holy Scripture has led them to desire to look all over the universe for answers to life (which atheists say don’t matter) and for which there is already an answer.
Worldviews have consequences. So far the worldview of ‘we evolved from nothing’ has led to these ‘space scientists’ to believe that life must have come out of the ooze someplace else. The consequence is we have spent billions for nothing. Stop the insanity…sequestor or no sequestor.
"All we really accomplished was to rub the Russkie's noses in it since we were first."
Unfortunately, that's enough justification for too many Americans.
dntmkmecomoverther, you sound like someone who would be more comfortable with the idea that the Sun and all other celestial bodies revolve around the Earth as mere accessories to the creation of Man. I think you might suffer cognitive dissonance at the notion that Earth is but a tiny, invisible mote from practically every other point in the universe. You must wonder why God went on to create an unfathomably vast universe when his only important work was to create us. Maybe you just don't understand God.
I have no idea whether there is life on Mars. I would certainly never suggest limits to God's creation. In my opinion such hubris is not becoming for a person of faith. To me It seems the more pervasive life proves to be, the more magnificent the work of the Creator.
However, I tend to agree with you that the scientific community is wrong-headed. All one needs to do is look at history, the huge rubble-heap of discarded scientific theories, to know that today's scientists have virtually zero chance of finally grasping the truth. Yet they act as if they have certain knowledge.
An acquaintance who was a flight engineer on one of the Apollo missions said it was an inside joke at the agency that NASA stood for "Never A Straight Answer".