Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Goodbye, Moon

Goodbye, heavy-lift rockets, as the Obama Administration is planning to cancel the Ares, Orion and Constellation programs. Goodbye, manned space program. Goodbye, Mars.

"Short-sighted" does not even begin to cover it. Which is no surprise, as the Bush Obama Administration has opted to cancel ongoing projects in favor of more study about a more advanced vehicle, the cost of which will be paid somewhere in the future (like after 2016).

So not only has Obama adopted the national security and economic policies of George W. Bush, now he has adopted the same method of space exploration- Study, Design and Delay. If either one of those two men had been King of Spain, they'd still be mulling over whether to send an exploratory mission to the Western Hemisphere.

Sometime in the last 50 years, our national appetite for exploration was sated and our national tolerance for risk was drastically reduced. We have become a fearful, petty people. Our ancestors, who founded this country and who expanded it from a narrow strip of land to "from sea to shining sea" would be deeply ashamed. We are now like the folks in old Europe who said: "America? That's too far, I'm happy just being a peasant in this disease-ridden village."

As a nation, we are fucking pathetic.
on or about

8 comments:

  1. Nangleator1/27/2010 2:28 PM

    It'll suck to have to learn Chinese to have a vacation on the moon. Especially when my American passport only gets me to the crappy tunnels, and not the hot spots.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cirze1/27/2010 2:42 PM

    As a great-granddaughter of one of the settlers of Jamestown . . .

    AMEN!!!!!

    And WTF?

    Thanks for speaking out.

    S

    ReplyDelete
  3. BadTux1/27/2010 4:04 PM

    As a nation, we are fucking pathetic.

    Fat, lazy, smug, self-righteous, possessed of an unwarranted sense of self-entitlement, ignorant, intellectually incurious, easily frightened by imaginary hobgoblins and jumping every time someone says "boo!" loudly... yeah, "fucking pathetic" pretty much sums it up.

    - Badtux the Head-shakin' Penguin

    ReplyDelete
  4. Frank Van Haste1/27/2010 4:23 PM

    Dear Miss Fit:

    I share your distress over the sorry state of affairs that has overcome the manned spaceflight program. However, I feel we must react to the reality of the situation. If I may, I draw your attention to the start of the Concluding Summary of the Augustine Commission report issued last summer, which I think foreshadows the decision you so understandably lament:

    "NASA is the most accomplished space organization in the world. Its human spaceflight activities are nonetheless at a tipping point, primarily due to a mismatch of goals and resources. Either additional funds need to be made available or a far more modest program involving little or no
    exploration needs to be adopted.    ..." (emphasis added)

    The esteemed Dr. Augustine knows whereof he speaks. A resource starved program would just lead to more needless accidents and memorial services for astronauts.

    Regards,

    Frank

    ReplyDelete
  5. SkinnyDennis1/27/2010 6:20 PM

    But we ARE paying for a manned space program. Trouble is it's in China.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Comrade Misfit1/27/2010 7:53 PM

    Frank, yes, indeed. And I think we need to fund NASA appropriately to fully support manned spaceflight.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sarah1/28/2010 9:58 PM

    so long misfit.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Comrade Misfit1/29/2010 6:24 AM

    Sarah, are you going somewhere?

    ReplyDelete

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