To the Moon!!.. not just yet!!

[rightwinger]

I would like to see NASA concentrate on unmanned probes. That is the future of space exploration. The cost to send a live being safely drives the cost prohibitively. Even the military is going to more unmanned platforms. NASA could lead the technology

Six years and going for the Mars rovers. Unfortunately, one appears stuck

Future Uncertain for Stuck Mars Rover - ABC News

 

[Old Rocks]

The return on the investment that this nation gets from exploring space far exceeds the costs and always has, and it amazes me that as I spoke of earlier that people would advocate cutting one of the very few Govt. departments that actually has shown a massive return on it's investment. In fact commercial aviation owe's a lot to research done by NASA so it does benefit you and I. The logic I used, is not Beaurocratic Logic but it's a practical one that impacts all segments many segments of our sociecty.

If NASA's Return on Investment is so great, then privatize it: I'll buy stock.

Until then, its just another of thousands of Federal made-work plans which considers itself impacting "many (or all) segments of our society," for which I must pay, and which gets larger every year as Beaurocrats sit around Washington wondering how they can spend $X this year to justify spending $X+$Y= $Z next year.

Well, dingdong, the technology that allows you to display your ignorance of the benefits of our space program is the very one you are using right now.

We need to get back into the explortation of our solar system ASAP.

 

[Navy1960]

NASA Langley, in Hampton, generated $2.3 billion in economic output and 21,000 jobs in the United States. In Virginia, the economic output of Langley was $1 billion with 10,500 jobs. Langley’s contribution to the economic well-being and quality of life extends beyond income and jobs. Some 9.5 million people had the opportunity to share in the excitement of its aeronautics breakthroughs, its space exploration vision, and its Earth-observing missions through education programs, state fairs, air shows, community events and museums. NASA in Virginia brings a culture of science and engineering alive in schools and universities for Hampton Roads and the Commonwealth.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/pdf/169236main_2006econimpact.pdf

Wallops created an economic output for the nation of $424 million and generated 4,000 jobs, which included hosts operations funded by the U.S. Navy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA).

WASHINGTON NASA spending next year will create 237000 private industry jobs ... non government jobs created directly or indirectly by nasa-related spending, Spokane News

Aerospace is one of the largest industrial groups in Alabama and, along with the automotive and biotechnology industries, is a key industry driving a more prosperous economic future in the state, according to economic development officials. Aerospace accounts for approximately 73,000 direct jobs and a payroll of $3.66 billion. Other jobs created as a result of this industry total 66,659 and an additional $2.49 billion in payroll. The aerospace industry generally provides a higher level of income than other industries. For example, the Census Bureau reports that aerospace manufacturing workers average $64,288 in wages each year, compared with $42,639, the salary of the average manufacturing worker in Alabama.
Encyclopedia of Alabama: Aerospace Industry

These are not just, public jobs that reach into your pockets as a taxpayer, these are private sector jobs, that add to the tax base. So the argument that it's simply a tax drain is complete nonsense. As I have said in previous posts, the space program is not just blasting rockets into orbit, how do you think that GPS in your car or on your phone works? or perhaps the TV you watch, or the safety features in modern aviation?

 

[blastoff]

In the final analysis NASA is but one of our big bungling bureaucracies that sucks up massive amounts of tax dollars to do what the private sector could do at a fraction of the cost.

 

[Samson]

These are not just, public jobs that reach into your pockets as a taxpayer, these are private sector jobs, that add to the tax base. So the argument that it's simply a tax drain is complete nonsense. As I have said in previous posts, the space program is not just blasting rockets into orbit, how do you think that GPS in your car or on your phone works? or perhaps the TV you watch, or the safety features in modern aviation?

Why not privatize NASA?

If its not "simply a tax drain" then why not sell stock?

My guess to the answer is that NASA Beaurocrats (like all others) wouldn't know what the fuck to do if they ever were charged with actually making a profit instead of reaching into tax-payer pockets.

I'll never forget one year visiting my Government Employed Brother in Law and accompanying him to a Washington DC cocktail party. Main topic of conversation for me was how I was going to have to work harder to manufacture, market, and sell my products and services so that I could earn a paycheck.

Main topic of conversation for EVERYONE else in the room was how much their Department contributed to The Social Welfare State, and how much MORE they needed from taxpayers to complete whatever cockamamie vital interest the American People had in their job.

 

[Navy1960]

These are not just, public jobs that reach into your pockets as a taxpayer, these are private sector jobs, that add to the tax base. So the argument that it's simply a tax drain is complete nonsense. As I have said in previous posts, the space program is not just blasting rockets into orbit, how do you think that GPS in your car or on your phone works? or perhaps the TV you watch, or the safety features in modern aviation?

Why not privatize NASA?

If its not "simply a tax drain" then why not sell stock?

My guess to the answer is that NASA Beaurocrats (like all others) wouldn't know what the fuck to do if they ever were charged with actually making a profit instead of reaching into tax-payer pockets.

I'll never forget one year visiting my Government Employed Brother in Law and accompanying him to a Washington DC cocktail party. Main topic of conversation for me was how I was going to have to work harder to manufacture, market, and sell my products and services so that I could earn a paycheck.

Main topic of conversation for EVERYONE else in the room was how much their Department contributed to The Social Welfare State, and how much MORE they needed from taxpayers to complete whatever cockamamie vital interest the American People had in their job.

As I posted a little while back Samson, I'm not totally against that, I just think that from a capability standpoint the private sector has a long way to go to catch up. Then again, as I mentioned especially with the example of Virgin Galactic, there is a LARGE interest out there in the private sector for this and perhaps the best solution would be to somehow find a bridge to transition to that rather than simply throw 3.1 Billion down the drain. Here is an example, if the Govt. plans to get rid of the ARES I system then how about. selling it to an American private enterprise on the contention that they keep up the development at least that way we can reap the benefits from it as a nation eventually, in terms of lift capacity. I don't think anyone can deny that our society today depends on space for a large portion of it's communication and it makes sense to have the tools availbale to lift that capacity into orbit without having to depend on others for it. I will even go so far as to agree with others on here and say that for the last several years, others than it's aviation research and communctions lifting and deep space research , NASA has spent money on no lack of clear vision or a system that has beenfits besides expensive ferrying capacity, i.e. the shuttle. Had NASA spent money in the development of an ARES system that worked in conjunction with making lift capability cheaper and reducing the cost of space then the benefits would be there. So perhaps its a 2 fold issue, andone in my opinion that is not solved by simply trashing a program that you have spend billions on and actually has achieved its first successful launch recently and will eventually realize what I posted above.

 

[Navy1960]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGHWheEM-ww&feature=player_embedded#

I thought you all might enjoy this, this is the Falcon 1 a private venture and in reference to what I was talking about earlier, if NASA plans to trash the ARES I perhaps sell the technolgy to firms like these to promote private space then. rather than just flush billions.