Comments on: Will "Change" hit the space program?

By: Carl

Carl — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:49:49 +0000

could use cellband on trip. http://www.cellband.com

By: Scribe

Scribe — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 19:25:48 +0000

Change should happen. We should be spending more on Space Exploration from the Federal budget. Our future is the stars. Our techonology and science is born from the fire of those stars and we should keep reaching.

Not pulling ignorantly at our shoestrings.

Prometheus gave us fire. Even in dire economic times, people gaze to the stars.

By: JOSH WALKER

JOSH WALKER — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:45:15 +0000

I Feel that we need to Go back to the Moon and On to the Asteroids and Comets and To Mars and Beyond and I feel that We need to As A Nation We owe it to the Families of the Columbia And Challegner Accdients and To the Men and Women Of the spaceShuttels That went Down . I also Feel That we need to Also Mine and Detect any Asteroid or Comet that May Hit the Earth and Cause the HumanRace To Go Exitnct and I feel that we need to Ask Congress and The Senate to Increase Funding for NASA and for Our Nation To Return to the Moon and on To Mars But after we have Return to the Moon and On to The Asteroids and Comets! Thanks Too all Who have Flown In space!

By: Franko

Franko — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 07:47:33 +0000

NASA drives out the good in US.
Soon, cost Effective India and China will become the space leaders

By: Old Dave

Old Dave — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:46:21 +0000

It is imperative that an expanded NASA and private companies continue to explore and exploit space and it's resources. We have come so far, learned so much and still we have questions. Space exploration is the very essence of being human. Yes there are problems on this planet; retiring the war efforts would fund solutions to those problems in one swipe. Continuation and expansion of the exploration of the universe is a basic human requirement and the benefits we garner will support us more than any false hope or prophesy will ever do.

By: corey

corey — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:13:43 +0000

I REALL HOPE THAT NASA GETS A "BIG" $$$BOOST AND HAVE MORE MANNED MISSIONS TO SPACE,AND THAT THEY WILL BE ABLE TO GET US TO THE MOON AND MARS FASTER THAN PROJECTED WE NEED TO HAVE SOME GOOD NEWS AND PUT OUR $$$ INTO PROGRESS NOT "WAR" ALL THE TIME!!

By: Franko

Franko — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 09:44:19 +0000

The theme; KingKong USA, Super Right, defender of humanity
Does not orbit well with the global taxation without representation
A giant advertising billboard, promoting another Toxic Fraud ?
Not well planned, or executed, even bad advertisement ?

By: Dimmer

Dimmer — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 22:40:00 +0000

I'm sure NASA could use a good all-round examination of it's staff and processes (any sizable organization tends to build management structures and hierarchies that provide little to no benefit) - but this should be done for efficiency reasons, not cost.

We have much bigger targets to look at for broad cost reduction - lets maybe suggest the military budget should be made rewards based (get to the end of some damn wars) rather than a massive money sink.

By: Ed

Ed — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 20:38:31 +0000

Watch the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey". There isn't anything depicted in that movie that could not have been made to happen by the year 2001. We don't have the space program that we all dreamed of back when that film was made because the American people don't want it badly enough. It's time to stop blaming Congress for their budgetary shortsightedness, and recognize that there is a real anti-space sentiment in this country. Most people don't buy the idea that there are tangible economic benefits to space exploration and development, and for them, allocating <1% of the federal budget on NASA is still too much money to invest in our future. Now we're spending many times NASA's budget to bail out an economy that has fallen behind foreign competition, and people still don't see the connection.

Unmanned probes may send back fascinating pictures, but they can't develop the economic potential of space. We need to get serious about establishing permanent human settlements in space. Arguments about whether to return to the Moon or go on to Mars are absurd. This country could easily afford to double, or even triple, our investment in space, and pursue both goals. I hope our new president will have the vision and drive to push for that, but I doubt it. It won't happen until the American people themselves demand it, or until the private sector rebounds from the current crisis and does it themselves.

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 04:23:34 +0000

I agree with many of the commenters in this section but Jason Rhian perhaps said it the best. The job that NASA does is a sorely welcome relief from the stories of rampant greed and incompetence in the economic sector that threaten the very fabric of our country, and the absolutely childish attention paid to peripheral non-entities like Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan. This is science at its best and it is unfortunate that such a large proportion of our society is capable of understanding it. The personal issues of one astronaut have nothing to do with the integrity of the program or the quality of its work, which is nothing short of phenomenal. In the many discussions of how to navigate the next 5-7 years, it has been said repeatedly that NASA could shorten the development time of the Orion project with more money, perhaps 2-3 billion dollars per year. So take it away from AIG and give it to NASA. Maybe extend the shuttle program on a curtailed basis until that is done. Focus on repairing Hubble and launching the next generation deep space telescope. Shorten the time to the next moon landing. Don't worry about sending men to Mars at this point-stick to the robotic vehicles and the rest will take care of itself in time. And ask the press to quit living in the past, quit acting like a bunch of ignorant onlookers and spare us the tabloid-level crap. I truly hope that Barack Obama is true to his word about the space program and also that Michael Griffin will remain the director of NASA in his administration. We need a seasoned scientist at the helm, not some (ding-dong) administrator whose only concern is money. There are a few things in the federal government that work well and NASA is at the top of the list. Parenthetically, so is NIH. We are so far ahead of everyone else on the planet in this area, and it provides such enormous scientific spinoff that we cannot even think about not pushing ahead.