Up and Away, Junior Bushman

[ursangnome]

Okay, so here I am, a big space exploration buff. Haven't seen or heard the President's proposal yet, but I tell you, I'm more skeptical than a balloon animal artist doing a birthday party for a family of hedgehogs.

Put aside the question of where the money will come from. Put aside the fact that this is coming from a President who cannot seem to keep his budget from leaking like an iceberg-struck passenger liner. Put aside the fact that we're told that at the announcement, said President will not talk about where the money will come from, and that refusal to talk about a thing usually means that you dont' have anything to say that I'm gonna like...

The timing is all wrong. Not in the "It isn't time to go into space, we aren't ready" way, but in the "It is an election year" way. Not a darned peep did I hear bout space exploration from this guy in the last election. And now, when he has bigger economic, domestic and foreign policy fish to fry, he suddenly gets all dedicated to space?

Yeah. The phrases, "deathbed conversion" and "grasping at straws" come to mind. Wanna get a few space groupie votes in November, hm Mr. Bush?

Comments

[sjo.livejournal.com]

Like he gives a rat's ass about space exploration. It's all a publicity stunt, and will no doubt be an unfunded mandate (a lot like "leave no [white] child behind").

Don't get me wrong -- I'm a second-gen space geek and all that -- but when children are going hungry and soldiers are dying in Iraq and we have the biggest budget deficit EVER... now is NOT the time.

Yah, I'm preaching to the choir. But the mini-rant needed to go somewhere.

[antoniseb.livejournal.com]

Of course the program won't happen... but if it does, the money is coming out of entitlement programs like medicare, medicaid, social security, and the like. The declaration that it is coming out of such programs will come later when the debt needs to be paid because high interest rates are coming.

For me, the worst hints I've heard are that all non-manned NASA projects are getting scuttled.

[umbran.livejournal.com]

For me, the worst hints I've heard are that all non-manned NASA projects are getting scuttled.

Hm. Well, it may be that the scientific projects might be raked over the coals to dredge up funding. However, I cannot believe that such a baldly stated version is true, for a couple of reasons:

1)It cannot be *all* unmanned projects, because the US needs to keep up with launching telecom, weather, and military satellites. That sort of work simply isn't going to go away.

2)NASA may be at the government's beck and call, but people like the cheif scientist for the rover, Spirit, wouldn't go on record saying that he liked the idea if he'd heard it'd mean all non-manned missions would be halted. NASA wants to be big news, but it is also filled with terribly intelligent people, who know the value of unmanned missions.

[antoniseb.livejournal.com]

I hope you are right. What I heard was a democratic senator [not a candidate for president] speaking on NPR. Certainly there is an incentive to say some damning things. I also heard the Czar of Mars talking about huge science endevours with huge space astronomy projects. I think he's talking about proposals that the Bush team received but would never consider. Like everyone else, we'll just have to wait and see what the proposal is.