Let's throw this out for consideration...
We all know how the government can't stand letting the country (and its denizens) run their own lives. Nor can the people who are all for social programs stand to see money going away from their pet projects.
Let's bounce forward a few years. We're actually at the point of seriously kickstarting the private enterprise space program, be it Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, SpaceDev, or one of the myriad of other corporations vying for the ability (it may even be a private individual who finally makes a breakthrough into inexpensive and viable space travel!) to be first.
Along comes Unca Sam and the Gimme Brigade with their hands out. "We want our cut! You can't do it cheaper than NASA! You must have this installed. You must have this safety inspection. You must have this license. You must have this certificate."
What will they do trying to cripple our rise back into space?
07 March, 2011
To Boldly Go? Or Wait on the Gimme?
"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."
"Roger, Twan... [correcting himself] Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot."
Our finest hour. The first time we set foot on the Moon. Now we're retiring our Space Shuttle fleet (that is only just getting broken in) and barely working on replacements.
In other news, a science panel has told NASA it should focus on sending a solar powered rover to Mars instead of trying to focus on manned space flights. The Obama administration even cut funding to the renewed lunar program this past year.
What happened? Once American used to have the Right Stuff. Our curiosity led us deeper and deeper into the heavens--but no more. Now we're more worried about social programs helping those who don't want to work (or feel entitled to not work) and would rather depend upon the Federal Gimme feeding, sheltering, and clothing them.
What about all those great side benefits that come out of space exploration? Velcro as an example.
"Oh, that could have been thought up by a commercial company at a fraction of the wasted cost that NASA used."
Possibly. But at what cost? Keeping us down in our well?
"All the Lunar landing gave us was some pretty pictures of our planet and some rocks. Big deal."
It is a big deal. We once tread the surface of our satellite. We can do it again. Perhaps not with NASA, but with private enterprise--oh, I know, I know. You want us to cut their tax breaks so they pay their fair share of the Gimme cash for the non-workers in this nation. Perhaps even to help pay the union wages for those that are members of a union that feel entitled to garner a larger paycheck than the rest of us.
"But you're not seeing the point. NASA developed a 'space pen' that works in zero gravity. If you ask me, we did it before with something called a pencil. Hello?"
Yeah, hello. It's called "Free Fall," not zero gravity. It may not be that big a deal, and you are right. We had the same thing with a pencil. But government forms have to be filled out wherever the government goes. The government went to space, so it needed a pen for all that paperwork. Yes, private enterprise would have not needed that and would have come up with something similar for a fraction of the cost--
"And it still would have been a waste. Think of the hungry and the poor in this world! What about them?"
Sure. What about them? We're fishing our oceans into ruin, and farming our lands until every last bit of nutritional value is removed from the soil. What then? Not only will we still have the hungry, but the rest of us will hunger, too. Poor? We'll all be poor. Don't you think that space exploration can work on a solution to that? The minerals we need to survive on can be mined out there (for profit!), and the time it takes to get there will force us to create a system of nutrition that will feed the astronauts on the way there and back. Don't you believe that the same system could be used to feed us here on Earth?
I actually got in a discussion with someone that felt so strongly about our wasted dollars going into space instead of feeding people around the world. She was arguing with me via her mobile smart phone. I asked her how much she spent on that gadget monthly. She gave me an exorbitant number. i asked her if she was so worried about the hungry, why not cut out all the Whizz Bang from her phone service and just use it as an emergency phone? She could feed a small nation with her monthly bill. Of course, she then proceeded to turn it around on me and snap about how much I spend on internet each month. Not to worry, said I. I'm not trying to feed the world. I'll let the Gimme do that. I'm headed to one of those 1200 planets that the Kepler telescope has discovered. Oh, don't worry. I won't ask the Gimme to help and take money away from your social programs. We'll use private enterprise and do it ourselves.
"Roger, Twan... [correcting himself] Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot."
Our finest hour. The first time we set foot on the Moon. Now we're retiring our Space Shuttle fleet (that is only just getting broken in) and barely working on replacements.
In other news, a science panel has told NASA it should focus on sending a solar powered rover to Mars instead of trying to focus on manned space flights. The Obama administration even cut funding to the renewed lunar program this past year.
What happened? Once American used to have the Right Stuff. Our curiosity led us deeper and deeper into the heavens--but no more. Now we're more worried about social programs helping those who don't want to work (or feel entitled to not work) and would rather depend upon the Federal Gimme feeding, sheltering, and clothing them.
What about all those great side benefits that come out of space exploration? Velcro as an example.
"Oh, that could have been thought up by a commercial company at a fraction of the wasted cost that NASA used."
Possibly. But at what cost? Keeping us down in our well?
"All the Lunar landing gave us was some pretty pictures of our planet and some rocks. Big deal."
It is a big deal. We once tread the surface of our satellite. We can do it again. Perhaps not with NASA, but with private enterprise--oh, I know, I know. You want us to cut their tax breaks so they pay their fair share of the Gimme cash for the non-workers in this nation. Perhaps even to help pay the union wages for those that are members of a union that feel entitled to garner a larger paycheck than the rest of us.
"But you're not seeing the point. NASA developed a 'space pen' that works in zero gravity. If you ask me, we did it before with something called a pencil. Hello?"
Yeah, hello. It's called "Free Fall," not zero gravity. It may not be that big a deal, and you are right. We had the same thing with a pencil. But government forms have to be filled out wherever the government goes. The government went to space, so it needed a pen for all that paperwork. Yes, private enterprise would have not needed that and would have come up with something similar for a fraction of the cost--
"And it still would have been a waste. Think of the hungry and the poor in this world! What about them?"
Sure. What about them? We're fishing our oceans into ruin, and farming our lands until every last bit of nutritional value is removed from the soil. What then? Not only will we still have the hungry, but the rest of us will hunger, too. Poor? We'll all be poor. Don't you think that space exploration can work on a solution to that? The minerals we need to survive on can be mined out there (for profit!), and the time it takes to get there will force us to create a system of nutrition that will feed the astronauts on the way there and back. Don't you believe that the same system could be used to feed us here on Earth?
I actually got in a discussion with someone that felt so strongly about our wasted dollars going into space instead of feeding people around the world. She was arguing with me via her mobile smart phone. I asked her how much she spent on that gadget monthly. She gave me an exorbitant number. i asked her if she was so worried about the hungry, why not cut out all the Whizz Bang from her phone service and just use it as an emergency phone? She could feed a small nation with her monthly bill. Of course, she then proceeded to turn it around on me and snap about how much I spend on internet each month. Not to worry, said I. I'm not trying to feed the world. I'll let the Gimme do that. I'm headed to one of those 1200 planets that the Kepler telescope has discovered. Oh, don't worry. I won't ask the Gimme to help and take money away from your social programs. We'll use private enterprise and do it ourselves.
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