NASA Is Back From The Past

[Dammy]

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/sls1.html

Gee, it's the 1970s all over again. I would say 1960s with them using J-2s but they did use SMEs and SRBs so they date back to the 1970s. Now the only thing we are missing to be truly back in the 70s is Disco and inflation. One of which is making it's silent (note they no longer count gas or food costs) return.

 

[faethor]

NASA certainly has taken a hit.

Remember this Bush statement from 2004? "Inspired by all that has come before and guided by clear objectives, today we set a new course for America's space program," He then went on to announce we'd make it to the moon by 2020. Which was fairly confusing to me. Why could a Democratic Administration announce in 1962 that we'd go to the moon by the end of the decade and we accomplished that in 6 years. Yet in the early 21st Century a Republican Administration announces we'll take 16 years to repeat the task and call it a new direction? It isn't new, we've done it before. And since we've done it multiple times before shouldn't it be easier, faster and cheaper? We stopped dreaming.

The sad part is the Bush TARP spending amounts to more than what the USA has spent on NASA since it's inception. Our elected officials in the last decade clearly do not have NASA as a priority. Again We stopped dreaming.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson gives a good summary of the NASA problem in the USA.

 

[Dammy]

Things went from bad to worse with the ISS. ISS turned into a massive black hole of money and effort with crap to show for it. I guess NASA's time has come. I hope they can maintain funding for NASA to keep some of their facilities as museums as the rest of the world goes forward.

BTW, most of TARP monies were issued by the Obama Administrators. I didn't like TARP in the first place, I sure as hell do not like how they spent it.