Intermarkets' Privacy Policy
Support


Donate to Ace of Spades HQ!



Recent Entries
Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022
Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022
OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published. Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me
Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups





















« Unprecedented: Airborne Acquires, Tracks, and Shoots Down Boost-Phase Ballistic Missile for First Time | Main | Harkin: We're Going Ahead With Reconciliation »
February 12, 2010

Krauthammer: Obama Blows It On Manned Space Program

Thanks to Obama's canceling of NASA's Moon program, we'll be boldly going nowhere unless we can hitch a ride with the Russians.

Of course, the administration presents the abdication as a great leap forward: Launching humans will be turned over to the private sector, while NASA's efforts will be directed toward landing on Mars.

This is nonsense. It would be swell for private companies to take over launching astronauts. But they cannot do it. It's too expensive. It's too experimental. And the safety standards for getting people up and down reliably are just unreachably high.

Sure, decades from now there will be a robust private space-travel industry. But that is a long time. In the interim, space will be owned by Russia and then China. The president waxes seriously nationalist at the thought of China or India surpassing us in speculative "clean energy." Yet he is quite prepared to gratuitously give up our spectacular lead in human space exploration.

As for Mars, more nonsense. Mars is just too far away. And how do you get there without the stepping stones of Ares and Orion? If we can't afford an Ares rocket to get us into orbit and to the moon, how long will it take to develop a revolutionary new propulsion system that will take us not a quarter-million miles but 35 million miles?

Meanwhile what will Obama fund NASA for? Climate change research.

I get that government run space programs can be something of a conservative/small government heresy and in this case I'm a heretic. As Krauthammer points out a private sector space program is decades away. The costs are simply to high as are the challenges in terms of recouping an return on investment in terms of exploration. The low earth orbit taxi/sightseeing stuff may payoff soon but that's not the same as going to the moon or Mars.

I'm also aware NASA isn't the bold, cutting edge organization it was in the 50's and 60's. That's not an argument in favor of giving up manned exploration, it's an argument for blowing up a bloated bureaucracy and starting over.

I'd love to see a viable and vigorous private space exploration industry but does anyone seriously argue it exists or will anytime soon? To me this is a case where government isn't the best answer but alas, it's the only handy with any track record of success.

To paraphrase Don Rumsfeld, you go to space with the space program you have, not the one you want.

I'm not going to make some case about great spin-off technologies, national security or increasing the number of people who go into math and science (a supposed goal of this administration) because I don't know how true they are. Nor do I entirely care. Not everything in life has to be rational or square up on some accounting ledger. Some things are important because, well they are. Great nations have always funded exploration. It's part of what makes them great. Obama, as is his won't, is ceding American greatness and letting others fill the void.

As I said, it's something of a conservative heresy and I'm okay with that.

Of course, no space related post would be complete without Buzz Aldrin punching the Moon Truther in the chops.


That right there? That was worth all the money NASA spent sending men to the Moon.

digg this
posted by DrewM. at 04:11 PM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
Warai-otoko: "623 I've never seen "Full Metal Jacket" beyond the ..."

Ahab: "Moby Ho!!! ..."

blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1): "Why should he break up a happy 'marriage' because ..."

Doof: "[i]Are you still denying your high school friend w ..."

Braenyard: "She started the whole debate by NOT ANSWERING a qu ..."

Bulgaroctonus: "I've never seen "Full Metal Jacket" beyond the boo ..."

[/i][/b][/s][/u]I used to have a different nic: "[i]There was a commenter on Hot Air (or Hot Gas if ..."

JROD: "@600 Braenyard-Thank You! Say, you wouldn't ha ..."

one hour sober: ">>Lee Ermey was only a consultant on Full Metal Ja ..."

The Central Scrutinizer: "Trust in the MSM is lower than it has ever been. ..."

Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden: "Ok. Off to the oncologist. BBL, maybe. ..."

FenelonSpoke: "Dear J.J. I went for a ride in the car with my ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64