tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8417569397293524933.post5919995472310939195..comments2024-01-25T05:19:11.334-05:00Comments on Everything Is Backwards: Obama's Startling Lack of Vision: "We Certainly Don't Need to Go Back to the Moon"Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8417569397293524933.post-50746106840890842582010-02-10T13:48:18.540-05:002010-02-10T13:48:18.540-05:00Yours is a well reasoned response, the kind I was ...Yours is a well reasoned response, the kind I was hoping for when I started this blog. Thank you.<br /><br />Personally, I'd like to see an "all of the above" approach to our space program: a strong private sector, perhaps in space tourism, possibly a space hotel, coupled with a more far-reaching goals of a trip to Mars, something that only our government can fund.BackwardsBoyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12030790554246955970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8417569397293524933.post-31855471017260738472010-01-29T21:23:04.749-05:002010-01-29T21:23:04.749-05:00> Dr. Werner Von Braun once said that research ...> Dr. Werner Von Braun once said that research and development was the steam<br />> that made our economic engine move.<br /><br />If that's true, we should rejoice, because the new space plan restores much of the research and development that was cut by the Bush Vision of Space Exploration. <br /><br />Ares and Constellation do not represent a "technological edge in space." They are a throw-back to Project Apollo. The technological edge disappeared from NASA when the Bush Administration abandoned all efforts to develop cheaper access to space. It still exists in the private sector, where companies like Virgin Galactic, XCOR, and SpaceX have picked up the gauntlet. <br /><br />The new plan will replace an expensive government-owned space transportation system with efficient, lower-cost private-sector alternatives. These cost reductions will allow NASA to explore not just the Moon, but the asteroids, lagrange points, Mars, and more; sooner, cheaper, and in larger numbers than would otherwise be possible. <br /><br />To create incentives for private enterprise, NASA will be setting aside $6 billion to purchase transportation to ISS for crew and cargo. All future launch systems will be developed commercially, not by NASA. <br /> <br />This is the one thing Obama's doing that's less socialist than his predecessor. Why is that a bad thing? <br /><br />As for stripping American youth of their dreams, the Bush Vision of Space Exploration was downsizing NASA, reducing the number of flights and the size of the astronaut corps. How is that inspirational? The private sector will enable hundreds, followed by thousands, and then tens of thousands of people to fly in space. Isn't that a goal worth supporting?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com