My thoughts on NASA’s budget
Monday, Febuary 1st. Today we honour our fallen Columbia STS-107 heroes, but the US congress had something different to say to NASA. They announced that they were no longer going to the moon. Yes I know the moon seams far away but we were there 41 years ago in July, and beyond the moon, mars, and beyond mars the universe. Today the furthest you can get off the earth is to the International Space Station (ISS) which is a mere 200 miles from the surface of earth. Yes it is still "in space". Ok so maybe not as big in a scale of distance but in international cooperation and science it is a big step forward. By astronauts staying in space on long-duration flight we can learn a lot about the drags of weightlessness on the body. When I read that Constellation and Ares had been canceled my mind just went blank - I started to worry, was ares and constellation ever going to lift off in the first place? was all that $9b. wasted on unusable technology? Yes there were many faults with Ares but I'm sure in time they would of been fixed. Likewise with the shuttles new technologies were developed many of which will find their way towards your daily life. When the US congress cut out plans beyond LEO (Low Earth Orbit) did they really know what they were doing? I know we are in the midst of a recession and everyone has had to tighten their belts as they say, but what about those whose jobs depended on ares? what will happen to them? And their children,nieces, newphews, cousins or maybe just the kid who lives down the road but whoever they are, whatever they do, wherever they live they need a hero and someone to look upto and when they're older and choosing what to become they will cross out anything to do with space. How can you do this to our future generations? Who will they look up to?
Sorry i went off in my own little "tangent" but i had to express my confusion and annoyance on this news (These views are those solely of the author and not tied to those of the Young Astronomers, or any of the affiliating organizations)
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Even though I understand your position I can’t in reality accept what you have mentioned right here.
I read on internet land that NASA decided to do a manned mission to Mars by August, 1982, but that Viet Nam war was far too costly. This kind of mission could have been a drop within the fiscal bucket, when compared to military spending back then. When comparing the worthiness of a manned mission to Mars to that of slugging it out in Southeast Asia, I vote Mars, completely. We lost Viet Nam; what a waste. We lost our earlier trip to Mars; what a waste. Now, we certainly have economic woes and budget cuts. Once again, Mars usually takes the back seat just to fall out of the vehicle. What can we do to prevent strike three?