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NASA Admin Says Shuttle and ISS are Mistakes
Teancum writes "NASA Administrator Michael Griffin was recently interviewed by the USA Today Editorial Board regarding the current direction of the U.S. Space Program, and in the interview he suggested that the past three decades have been a huge mistake and a waste of resources. As a total cost for both programs that has exceeded $250 Billion, you have to wonder what other useful things could have been developed using the same resources. Griffin quoted in the interview regarding if the shuttle had been a mistake "My opinion is that it was... It was a design which was extremely aggressive and just barely possible." Regarding the ISS: "Had the decision been mine, we would not have built the space station we're building in the orbit we're building it in.""
$250 Billion, you have to wonder what other useful things could have been developed using the same resources. Griffin
... say... defense companies to make a killing from.
Yes... Other things indeed. A... war... perhaps. Say... a war for oil and
Or . . . welfare...
Or.. even... rebuilding a flooded city that could have been fortified for $20bn ahead of time.
Or hell, even paying off a whole 5% of the debt!
Come on, give me a break. First off, this guy is a moron. Second, does anyone in here (or in that press meeting for that matter) actually have any clue about the inner workings of NASA or space research?
For starters, the claimed 250-billion was not entirely spent on 1 thing that failed. If they spent 250-billion to make a bolt, there might be a point to this hashing, but they didn't. Of that 250, how much was lost due to setbacks, and how much was used simply because that is what it costs to do the work? Huh?
Even if the end result (the ISS and the Shuttle) could be considered failures (which I think is too blunt a comment), the technology, research, experiences, and developments that came out of this whole ordeal are not to be played-down as worthless. So you think the ISS is a failure, but what about all the parts and work that went into it? It's a literal gold-mine of new technolog and knowledge.
In short, the 250-billion was not a total waste. I'd even venture enough to say that 80-percent of that 250-billion was well spent.
People need to realize that it is not the idea of space exploration that is the problem. The high costs can be attributed (most often) to blunders and idiocies caused by the people managing the projects. What people should really be arguing about is "why things went wrong" not "space is stupid." Anyone who thinks there is no benifit from space exploration, really doesn't know what they're talking about.
Bush is entirely appropriate to denounce along with one of his bullshitting appointees. Because Bush is the king of the fake credentials, the incompetent leader lying about being an "outsider", a "reformer". You're the one trying to keep Bush out of that entirely appropriate context, because you're afraid of how fragile Bush is exposed to any light at all. Anonymous crybaby Coward.
BTW, little wet one, what is the "ideology" you're referring to? Just hatred of your own obvious neocon obedience? That must really piss you off, especially when your ideology is collapsing everywhere around you, and hasn't nearly made you the rich Republican you wished for when you cashed in your rotten soul.
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make install -not war