NASA Contractors Censoring Saturn V Info

cybrpnk2 writes "Get ready to surrender your data sheets, study reports and blueprints of the Saturn V to stay in compliance with ITAR. Armed guards are reportedly taking down and shredding old Saturn V posters from KSC office walls that show rough internal layouts of the vehicle, and a Web site that is a source for various digitized blueprints has been put on notice it may well be next. No word yet if the assignment of a Karl Rove protege high up in NASA has any connection."

Comments

This is why we're still in the Space Stone Age

[QuantumG]

It's a damn shame that a nice launch vehicle also happens to make a nice ICBM, but the progress of getting off this rock is a teenie bit more important that keeping foreign countries from spending less than a few million dollars and a few years of research and development to make their own design. Meanwhile, the much harder problem of making a man rated rocket is being done over and over and over again. Talk about duplication of efforts.

kdawson, stop

[Winckle]

Seriously, this is not your political blog, I'm no right winger, but even I'm getting sick of it.

Re:Of course

[bxwatso]

I know the majority of people dislike Karl Rove, but let me assure you, the Government was doing stupid things long before he came along, and that will never change.

Re:WTF??? How do you take down?

[jon_anderson_ca]

It's probably because of the new CEV program (which is totally not just an Apollo redux... the CEV program will feature more seats). If terrorists know exactly where the join was between the first and second stages of the booster rocket, they could... uh...

How about this: we can't say exactly what they could do because it's classified! But trust me, they could totally do stuff.

Really.

Would the US government lie to you? Are you calling us liars? Why do you hate freedom?????

Re:WTF??? How do you take down?

[crawling_chaos]

Even if you can not make it impossible for your enemies to obtain a secret, you can still make it harder -- every step of the way. And making it harder for America's enemies (such as Iran and North Korea) to build their own ICBMs is a good goal.

And so it goes. Once a great nation was told "we have nothing to fear but fear itself." Now a small one is sold the message of "be afraid, be very afraid, and let the good God-fearing leaders take care of you sheep."

What happened to my country, and will you cowards please give it back?

Re:WTF??? How do you take down?

[tbannist]

'Where do you see "cowardice" here?'

I see cowardice whenever someone tries to justify intolerable abuse of power on the basis that maybe it will make it harder for some unknown enemy to strike at us.

Brave men demand more than vague threats and hand waving before they surrender their basic rights, cowards don't.