The Fight Over NASA's Future

swestcott writes "The New York Times has an interesting article about the transition to the Obama administration and NASA's transition to the new Orion."

Comments

Are all the news stories sensationalist?

[mcgrew]

TFNYTA seemed head and shoulders above what I've read of Aries before. This quote struck me:

NASA officials say the Constellation program is actually coming along well. In an interview in November, Mr. Griffin said, "I can't imagine somebody thinks you're going to develop a new space transportation system and encounter no challenges." The ones NASA is encountering, he said, are "routine in the extreme."

Douglas R. Cooke, a leading space agency official on the Constellation program, told reporters this month that the weight and vibration issues were well on their way to being fixed. And Neil Otte, the launching chief engineer for the Constellation rockets, said that solving tough problems was what engineers did for a living. When they encounter a particularly difficult challenge, he said, their attitude is, "Hey, it's starting to get fun now, and we're earning our money."

TFS wasn't nearly as good; the transition team was barely mentioned. Actually I was glad; there was more discussion of the actual Aries project itself and the problems with abandoning space for a few years while Aries is being finished.

Re:Sheesh

[jswatz]

Hey there--it's John, the guy who wrote the story. There are other factors at play besides the number of votes that an initiative can generate. For example, the place that the votes are generated is important, and space states like Florida have pretty important votes. The companies that benefit from space spending are also influential. NASA centers and NASA work is spread out all across the country. There are many reasons that Congressional support for NASA remains high and bipartisan -- not just the ones I've named, but the inspiration that NASA can provide to kids who might pursue careers in science and engineering. But the support hasn't been there to give NASA substantially MORE money, and that's why there's going to be a gap in US space flights.

Re:But teh gubment is BAD! Corporations are teh GU

[Jeff DeMaagd]

The moon program was sold in a time when people in the US were afraid of a world ruled by Soviets. Manned space travel needs to be sold better, or rather, it needs a reason to be. Science is a hard sell since robots can do maybe 95% of the same work with maybe 5% of the budget.

Re:Pork pork pork

[will_die]

Here is a video on how they work http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7425960.stm
for text try http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=getting-a-handle-on-space

Re:I need rehab

[wagnerrp]

Local news vans don't have a satellite dish on top. They have a parabolic microwave transmitter that they put up on a 50ft boom to give them line-of-sight to a nearby tower.

Re:Interesting conversation...

[mcgrew]

"Donald Trump was the son of Fred Christ Trump"

"Frederick Christ Trump was the father of the prolific real estate/entertainment magnate Donald Trump, his fourth of five children.

"His father, Friederich, was an entrepreneur who began his fortune running the Arctic Restaurant and Hotel in Bennett, British Columbia, during the Klondike Gold Rush, but died during the 1918 Spanish Flu when Fred was only 13."

The man was hardly a "normal shmoe". According to wikipedia he was born the son of a rich man, with all the influence and money that comes from being born the son of a rich man.

Re:Can't keep putting everything on our credit car

[LWATCDR]

Actually no they didn't
Older ICBMs like the Atlas, R-7 "I think", and Titan had to throw really big and heavy warheads. They all could put a lighter satellite into orbit.
Modern US missiles have less throw weight but even then a Peacekeeper or Trident could reach orbit with a light enough load.