"With NASA not even putting people in space... what is NASA needed for?" Well, what happened to the first "A" in NASA, aeronautics. Space has consumed the lion's share of NASA's budget to the point where very little aeronautics is being done anymore. Having worked with Dryden and Langley over the past several years (I work in an Air Force agency), aeronautics at NASA is a shell of what it used to be. Funny thing is, there is probably as much to be gained from the aeronautics research as the space research. I wonder what the score would be if we took the ratio of scientific merit and money spent for aeronautics and space at NASA. As pathetic as the aeronautics side is, I bet its score would blow space's score away.
What I would like to see is aeronautics and space be split into two separate agencies so that aeronautics doesn't have to fight for funding. Let's go back to the days of NACA.
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"With NASA not even putting people in space ... what is NASA needed for?" Well, what happened to the first "A" in NASA, aeronautics. Space has consumed the lion's share of NASA's budget to the point where very little aeronautics is being done anymore. Having worked with Dryden and Langley over the past several years (I work in an Air Force agency), aeronautics at NASA is a shell of what it used to be. Funny thing is, there is probably as much to be gained from the aeronautics research as the space research. I wonder what the score would be if we took the ratio of scientific merit and money spent for aeronautics and space at NASA. As pathetic as the aeronautics side is, I bet its score would blow space's score away.
What I would like to see is aeronautics and space be split into two separate agencies so that aeronautics doesn't have to fight for funding. Let's go back to the days of NACA.