Poor NASA

ruszka writes: "NASA is getting tossed further down the list again, it seems.. Now they're being hounded for the expenses of the space station.. CNN has the article."

Comments

Before people start bitching

[vectus]

about how we don't really need the ISS, I just want to say something.

When I was a child, I looked to the night-time sky in awe. My every last thought was about space. I badly wanted to become an astronaut and fly around the space shuttle. I thought about how much I wanted to go to the moon, or Mars.

I did not wish all these things because NASA did experiments in satellites, or because they were planning to send robots into space to do various missions. I longed to become an astronaut because of the pictures and video I saw. I wanted to stare in awe at the earth, while standing on the moon.

I did not become an astronaut, but I was inspired to love science and math. Now, I am earning my BSc. in Computer Science, and am hopefully going to end up with a PHD in Computer Science.

The science done on the ISS could surely be done more efficiently. Hell, we could explore the cosmos without ever taking a single foot off the surface of earth. I don't think that's the point of NASA, or the ISS. Behind all the research they do, there is the distinct presence of some basic human traits. We need to humanize the unknown. Space is vast and mysterious. We do know a lot about it, but it's just a drop in the bucket. There is so much we don't know, some of which could end up destroying earth (not likely, but possible). Having sent a man to the moon, probes to all the planets, and having satellites and a space station orbiting earth makes at least our corner of the galaxy seem a lot less hostile.

I also think that the space station serves as a marker for our technological prowess. Through architecture, expos, and vehicles, our society tries to assure itself that we are the peak of civilization. We want to prove that we are better than the ancient Egyptians, whose pyramids leave us in awe. We want to prove that we are better than every other group of humans that have ever existed.

Most importantly, and the point of this post, NASA serves to inspire youth. I'm sure that a lot of people on Slashdot, and around the world, have been inspired by NASA. Maybe you were around for the moon landing. Maybe you were around for Voyager. Maybe you were too young to remember Challenger, it doesn't really matter. You saw some awesome pictures, some awesome video, and you shit yourself. It probably inspired you to open a couple books, or to read the newspaper once and awhile.. maybe even to take up a career in the sciences. If it weren't for NASA, I'm sure that there'd be a hell of a lot fewer scientists out there.

Do we "need" the ISS? Not really. Should we cut funding, or quit making it? Definitely not. The implications of the ISS run far deeper than just some scientific experiments.