Without Nasa we wont have progress in the tech sector. If it wasn't for NASA in the 60's and 70's we wouldnt have cell phones, personal computers, hybrid cars, solar power, etc!

Good job Obama and also good job to those in senate..They are all worthless.. Career politicians are worthless pigs.

I've heard that, but don't accept that NASA is "the" leading driving force in the tech sector. NASA barely existed 45 years ago . . . there was nothing driving the tech sector before or since?

Obviously the military doesn't need Ares/Orion, that's why it can be scrapped. So if it doesn't have a classified military purpose, theres no reason why some of our international friends can't step in and help with the effort.

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it wasnt.. but I sure hope the private sector does well.

Lets see 2010 - 45 = 1965 after becoming operational in Oct 1958, by 1965 the Project Mercury in 1961 put Alan Sheppard in space, and then Project Gemini in 1965 had put Gus Grissom and John Young into prolonged earth orbit, by 1962 Mariner 2 space probe had ventured beyond earth orbit and was this first to visit another planet Venus. The Apollo program began planning before 1961 and had its first testing of the Saturn 1 in 1961 and continued thru 1964, development of the Saturn V, the Lunar lander, the Command module, and the reentry vehicle where all commenced prior to 1965. To say that NASA barley existed four years prior to landing men on the moon and safely returning them to earth is false.

The reality is, the NASA endeavor for the moon landing was arguably one if not the single largest technological leaps forward mankind has ever made. The technology sector prior to NASA was almost exclusively military driven and technology since NASA's hey day one can easily argue is almost entirely driven by transfer of NASA/DOD technology to civilian purposes. The entire spectrum of information technology is a direct outgrowth of technologies developed in response to space applications. Virtually all the advancement of every other technology is facilitated by information technology.

The fundamental issue is we will benefit from the technological advancements yet to occur that are required to achieve the goals we will set in the future.

Two reasons. 1) We don't have international "friends" and those who currently do have a capability, sort of, namely the Russians, are stuck with even older technology than the US possesses. They can do nothing but hop up to LEO and return.

2) Those who will likely step in and fill the gap, namely the Chinese, are most decidedly not our "friends" nor are they likely to be in the future.

- Peter.

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1971 108 280S

Am I missing something or are the people arguing for the government to keep doing the space thing the same people who say the government can't do squat when it come to any social programs?

Seems the private sector might do OK with space left to their own devices. I believe I remember reading that Rutan built Spaceship One for around $20 million. Had NASA done it I think you might have been able to add a few zeros on that figure and it still would be on the ground.

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- With out god, life is everything.
- God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance that's getting smaller and smaller as time moves on..." Neil DeGrasse Tyson
- You can pray for me, I'll think for you.
- When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

Then perhaps we should not have over designed the dam wheel. No we had to design a fantastically complex and expensive reusable shuttle that has failed twice and is far beyond it's life expectancy because we don't have a damn thing to replace it. Sure, it's really cool (when it works) but how many times has it been delayed due to mechanical issues? How many times have the Russians had to step in because the Shuttle was grounded till we figured out how to get the shuttle off the ground? It's a good thing the Russians did not develop their shuttle because there would be ISS residents having babies before we got them back.

Given the number of hours the Russians have in space compared to the US, it seems they are doing something right.

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2014 C250 21,XXX my new DD ** 2013 GLK 350 18,000 Wife's new DD**

- With out god, life is everything.
- God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance that's getting smaller and smaller as time moves on..." Neil DeGrasse Tyson
- You can pray for me, I'll think for you.
- When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

What do you think it would have cost Rutan if over the last 60 years NASA hadn't developed the engineering, technology, the proof of concept, and knowhow first and did so with taxpayer money?

No idea. Was the car developed/built with out government aid? Drug companies seem to do well.

Even if NASA did what the private person could not do, it does not mean that private enterprise cannot take over from here. NASA like so many other government agencies is bloated and of course.

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Sent from an agnostic abacus

2014 C250 21,XXX my new DD ** 2013 GLK 350 18,000 Wife's new DD**

- With out god, life is everything.
- God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance that's getting smaller and smaller as time moves on..." Neil DeGrasse Tyson
- You can pray for me, I'll think for you.
- When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

Yup, I 'screwed the pooch' on the math . . . good thing I don't do the retro burn calcs on martian research craft.

John Oliver Explains Why Only the Americans Could Go To the Moon

Personally, I don't care about individual nations and their bragging rights. I do care that someone does big science and shares the results; at this point that requires cooperation not compitition. If you are just talking about a "flags and footprints" effort, that's a complete waste of resources. That era is long gone, hopefully americans have grown up a little in the last 40 years.

The "rise and fall of nations" tends to be inconsequential to civilization as a whole; science will continue long after the current nations are long gone. I suspect that Clarke understood that too.

That's a complete urban myth just like Velcro was invented by NASA.

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So you had better learn Chinese right?
The Flags and Footprints thing is a very necessary part of our genetic makeup. I do not ever see a time where all nations cease to exist and everybody lives in a Happy John Lennon "Imagine" universe.

If we do not continue to strive forward and take risks we will become like the Chinese were after the Ming dynasty, decadent and self involved while the world passes us by.

I do think that the private sector can do a good job for somethings, building cool ships like the Rotary Rocket and Rutan's Spaceship One are good things and getting commercial flights to LEO and beyond is wht we should be striving for, however the big exploration projects like going to the Moon, Mars and the asteroid belt need to be funded by the deep pockets of NASA. The Space Program is one of the few things the USG has done well in the last 60 years.

Of course NASA is not going away, it is just going to "focus on Climate Change" so we are trading hard science for a fraud perpetrated by the criminals over in the UK and helped by Gore & Co.

Gee I wonder if this has anything to do with Osama Bin Laden's rant on climate change
http://frontpagemag.com/2010/01/29/osama-bin-laden-lends-support-in-fight-against-climate-change-guardian-co-uk/

Oh wait don't read my post - remember I am a moron

Sorry I posted this...

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Current
Monika '74 450 SL
BrownHilda '79 280SL
FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban
Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee
Krystal 2004 Volvo S60
Gone
'74 Jeep CJ5
'97 Jeep ZJ Laredo
Rudolf ‘86 300SDL
Bruno '81 300SD
Fritzi '84 BMW
'92 Subaru
'96 Impala SS
'71 Buick GS conv
'67 GTO conv
'63 Corvair conv
'57 Nomad

all hail the glorious leader for refocusing our eyes from the stars to the muck at our feet...