The end of the space shuttle marks a retreat in America's ambitions

[The Vorlon]

Sad, but perhaps true...

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/benedictbrogan/100098165/the-end-of-the-space-shuttle-marks-a-retreat-in-americas-ambitions/

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Not sad.......yeah yeah NASA's budget is such a small percentage, blah, blah, blah.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Manned space flight has been a piece of high tech pork for about four decades now.  Unfortunately, the Imperial Space Station will still continue to be a boondoggle paid for by the taxpayers.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Manned space flight has been a piece of high tech pork for about four decades now.  Unfortunately, the Imperial Space Station will still continue to be a boondoggle paid for by the taxpayers.

Wow, you might be the only one who agrees with me! 

[Antonio the Sixth]

When you are about to go bankrup, I guess you've other things to do than space travels. Maybe it's sad, but let's be a tad realistic.

[opebo]

When you are about to go bankrup, I guess you've other things to do than space travels. Maybe it's sad, but let's be a tad realistic.

'About to go bankrupt'?  What nonsense - america's difficulties - including inadequate funding of space boondoggles, is entirely the result of an easily rectified under-taxation of the privileged class.

[Lief 🗽]

We're an empire in (increasingly rapid) decline. What do you expect? I'm sure the Chinese and the Europeans and perhaps the Hindoostanis will do a good job of exploring space in our absence.

[krazen1211]

The space program was fundamentally built in the 50s and 60s before the days of Medicare. Given that the great society started experiencing massive cost overruns compared to projections during the early 1970s, well, something had to go.

[memphis]

Manned space flight has been a piece of high tech pork for about four decades now.  Unfortunately, the Imperial Space Station will still continue to be a boondoggle paid for by the taxpayers.

Wow, you might be the only one who agrees with me! 

Me too. Sure, space is interesting but we have a million more pressing issues on Earth. If it's so viable, let private industry do it.

[fezzyfestoon]

It marks a retreat from the unreasonable and extravagant, not from ambition.  Besides, our ambitions should be aimed towards a few more pressing issues than...whatever the point of sending people to space is.

[anvi]

I personally love the whole project of space exploration, and I have been fascinated by it since I was a kid.  But we're under a serious crunch and we can't afford it now.  The planets are something like 4.5 billion years old, so I'll take a gamble and say they'll still be around by the time our economy recovers....

The sad part is, that gamble by now might actually get more bet-able odds in Vegas than the Mike Tyson-Buster Douglas fight did in 1990.

[opebo]

It marks a retreat from the unreasonable and extravagant, not from ambition.  Besides, our ambitions should be aimed towards a few more pressing issues than...whatever the point of sending people to space is.

The only issue more pressing is the one which prevents space exploration, decent lives for the toiling mass, and any number of other worthwhile projects - and that is the maximization of privilege (inadequate taxation).

All of our society's 'values' are sacrificed upon the golden toilet bowl.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Facts about the Shuttle:


- The Space Shuttle killed more people than any other spacecraft combined.

- The Columbia disaster back in 2003 was the final nail in the coffin for the program.

- The remaining Space Shuttles weren't decommissioned in 2003 because they were still needed to complete construction of the ISS. So a decision was made to continue operation of the Shuttle under even stricter security guidelines.

- In a way, the ISS gave the Shuttle program another eight years of life. But construction of the ISS is now completed, so the Shuttles are put out of service.


The bottomline is, capsules cost fewer lifes and fewer dollars. The Shuttles were kind of cool, but also the wrong path. Development of re-usable capsule systems are the future.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Manned space flight has been a piece of high tech pork for about four decades now.  Unfortunately, the Imperial Space Station will still continue to be a boondoggle paid for by the taxpayers.

Wow, you might be the only one who agrees with me! 

Me too. Sure, space is interesting but we have a million more pressing issues on Earth. If it's so viable, let private industry do it.

I agree too - space is certainly important, and potentially a big part of the future for the human race, but at this time, it is a luxury that we can do without.

[King]

I find it interesting that the right NASA more than the left, even though it's more wasteful fiscally than most entitlement programs.

[Lief 🗽]

Since when does the left not believe in government-supported scientific research? NASA and space exploration is incredibly cheap, compared to so many other things we spend money on, and the scientific breakthroughs and technology developed because of the space program have impacted our lives and advanced our society in so many ways. It's not just shooting rockets into space because it's fun and looks cool; there's very real research and advancement that has come about and hopefully will continue to come about because of it.

[t_host1]

The big picture - Big Mistake,

 A dollar spent on man and space has far more value for the advancement of mankind than a dollar spent on the deliberate advancement of the destitute dependents of a progressive society lost in its own space.

Should a - could a,
 Our spaceships, they're robotic arms - like cranes on a construction job, do things that only they could do. Parking a couple in space are of a much better use of an asset than in a museum.
 They could of been adapted for many other uses - just staying fluent in the procedures learned in all aspects of space travel would of been a greater help in getting to the next frontier in space and how we live within it.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Lief, how much science could have been funded more cheaply had we not wasted so much money on manned space flight after Apollo.  Up to and including Apollo manned space flight made sense as there was no way to know how advanced and lightweight remotely controlled systems would become.

The USAF MOL program was canceled without being flown and the Soviet Almaz program was also canceled because it not only became cheaper to use unmanned satellites to do their reconnaissance roles, but they could do it better because they didn't have to deal with human cargo.

[bgwah]

Colony on Mars, plz.

[Ebowed]

I find it interesting that the right NASA more than the left, even though it's more wasteful fiscally than most entitlement programs.

It's more a question of priorities.  If the national debate weren't tarred by populist outrage over the deficit, I doubt leftists would have much of a problem with funding space exploration programs.  I will admit that I find the perspective being espoused by some of the rightists here to be puzzling.  Space appears to fit into this exclusive category of items that manage to evade any sort of scrutiny in the arena of fiscal responsibility.

[bgwah]

I find it interesting that the right NASA more than the left, even though it's more wasteful fiscally than most entitlement programs.

It's more a question of priorities.  If the national debate weren't tarred by populist outrage over the deficit, I doubt leftists would have much of a problem with funding space exploration programs.  I will admit that I find the perspective being espoused by some of the rightists here to be puzzling.  Space appears to fit into this exclusive category of items that manage to evade any sort of scrutiny in the arena of fiscal responsibility.

As opebo would say, libertarians in particular are "fans of the scifi." They would rather feed their fantasies than starving children.

[Meeker]

Lief, how much science could have been funded more cheaply had we not wasted so much money on manned space flight after Apollo.  Up to and including Apollo manned space flight made sense as there was no way to know how advanced and lightweight remotely controlled systems would become.

The USAF MOL program was canceled without being flown and the Soviet Almaz program was also canceled because it not only became cheaper to use unmanned satellites to do their reconnaissance roles, but they could do it better because they didn't have to deal with human cargo.

There's been a lot of helpful research done on the human body that could've only been done in space.

[dead0man]

Some guesses as to why the right in the US likes NASA....
A.it's tangently related to the military, especially the Air Force
B.it's great for "USA USA USA" chanting moments
C.it's got an inherent "cool factor"

Working against all that though are these things....
A.it's all sciency and stuff, a lot of righties dislike anything that has anything to do with science....until they need a new kidney of course or go get in their car or take a flight to see grandma
B.it costs a lot.....not in the grand scheme of things of course, but when they hear on the news that the shuttle costs 60kabillion dollars per launch...


Having an excuse to chant "USA USA USA" fairly often trumps nearly everything else though.

[Napoleon]

I find it interesting that the right NASA more than the left, even though it's more wasteful fiscally than most entitlement programs.

It's more a question of priorities.  If the national debate weren't tarred by populist outrage over the deficit, I doubt leftists would have much of a problem with funding space exploration programs.  I will admit that I find the perspective being espoused by some of the rightists here to be puzzling.  Space appears to fit into this exclusive category of items that manage to evade any sort of scrutiny in the arena of fiscal responsibility.

As opebo would say, libertarians in particular are "fans of the scifi." They would rather feed their fantasies than starving children.

Can't be too sure that starving children isn't their fantasy.

[dead0man]

Hey look, more ignorance about libertarians!