NASA's "Bizarre" Cuts

Comments

• NASA and the future Guest (Andromeda) on 02/08/2006 at 12:00 AM

  Posts: 1

  After all the great successes with Cassini/Huygens and the mars rovers it is very disappointing to read things like "job protection" and others. It seems like there are many people there for very long who are only waiting to retire without any vision for the time after. I am afraid the US in general is loosing momentum and visions that made them the #1 super power. I have the feeling the money is not wisely spent within NASA, there are no ideas how to raise money (e.g. from private persons as the very lucrative private flights of civilians in Russian spacecrafts). Missions to Europa and the TPF are absolute challenges and will need a lot of outstanding engineering but (hopefully or unfortunately) we may have to wait for Japan or China to step in here. Hoping for better news ... Somebody out of Austria. Rate this comment: (Reply)

  • Space now feeling the pain Guest (Erik ) on 02/08/2006 at 12:00 AM

    Posts: 1

    Well, look at it this way, those of us on the Aeronautics side... you know the FIRST "A" in NASA, the one that get's forgotten, have been dealing with much worse budget situations for the last DECADE.  Space, if you will pardon the pun, sucks up all the budget.  Meanwile, our Aeronautics sector withers on the vine losing out to foreign competitors who see Aeronautics as something worthwile.  Too bad, the US used to be the premier nation in Aeronautics.  Rate this comment: (Reply)

• 	Vision Guest (WhyCan'tWePayForEverything) on 02/08/2006 at 12:00 AM
  Posts: 1	President Kennedy was a wonderful visionary.  But he didn't envision 9/11, Katrina and Rita, the high cost of social services, etc.  Current leadership is holding the bag for that and I think it shows tunnel vision not to recognize that you can't dine on caviar when you have a hot dog budget. Rate this comment: (Reply)

  • Lack of Vision Guest (WhyWeCan'tPayForEverything) on 02/08/2006 at 12:00 AM

    Posts: 1

    We're not on a hot dog budget, there's plenty of money for tax cuts and the War Not On Terror But On Iraq. Bush's bulging deficits | Economist.com : POLITICAL speech is always full of slippery locutions, but George Bush's state-of-the-union address last week may have set a new standard for involuted meaning when he urged Congress to “act responsibly, and make the tax cuts permanent”. At that time, the official White House projection of the budget deficit for the 2006 fiscal year was $341 billion, a substantial portion of which could have been erased by rolling back the tax cuts so dear to Mr Bush’s heart. Rate this comment: (Reply)

  • 	Quote Guest (Chuck) on 02/08/2006 at 12:00 AM
    Posts: 1	The "...and do the other things..." part of Kennedy's speech wasn't referring to space exploration.  The "other things" were climbing the highest mountains, flying the Atlantic, and, Rice playing Texas, that he had just listed prior to the quote. Rate this comment: (Reply)

    • All that other science Guest (Dan) on 02/08/2006 at 12:00 AM

      Posts: 1

      NASA evolved from NACA.  The intent of the current agency should be that of its predecessor, MANNED terrestrial and space. All other missions not supporting manned flight should be funded under the NSF, NOAA etc.  Only robotic missions that support manned space exploration should be run by NASA. Why should NASA pay for satellites that monitor the rainforests and the hole in the ozone over Antartica.  Why doesn't NOAA own these?  If someone wants to design only robotic space probes then go to the NSF and get the funds.  BTW, NSF got a 7.9% boost in budget according to press. Rate this comment: (Reply)

• Sell the Assets Guest (In The Trenches) on 04/26/2006 at 12:00 AM

  Posts: 1

  If Shuttle and Space Station are that important,  the President should give permission for NASA to sell the assets and their operations to the highest bidder.  I;m sure some nation somewher would love to leapfrog into the space era by purchasing and refurbing the assets.  NASA can then use the money to move on - whatever that means in the policy-reversal world they are victims of. NASA has suffered so badly at the hands of so many uninformed adminnistration officials that it has developed Helsinki syndrome at its top levels. The robotic and Class-M planet investigations are needed for one very political reason - energy will be the engine for the maintenance of civilization and the destabilization of geo-political assumptions for a long time.  NASA needs to help the US find energy sources on other planets. Rate this comment: (Reply)