THIS IS A "GOT TO VIST WEB SITE"

[Waldo]

http://wechoosethemoon.org/

 

[Wade E]

Personally I think this is a waste of our tax dollars in an economy that cant afford it. If we had an abundance of funds then fine but this extreme amount of money could be better spent or just not used at all and refunded back to us! we have to cut corners, why cant the government????????????????

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

Cool site Waldo.
Wade, do a search on the benefits of space exploration, the pay back from these endeavors is astronomical. A tremendous amount of goods and services we take for granted today were made possible from this. We cant afford to not do it.

 

[Wade E]

Well i dont want to get into a political issue with this but we can do the same research right in the lab without spending millions of dollars on fuel alone to send this craft up there. If its going up there to fix a satellite or something then fine but otherwise keep it on the ground IMO.

 

[jobe05]

That what a great find Waldo, what I would consider a true tribute to President Kennedy on one of his great achievements.

Although I think space exploration is important, I have to agree with Wade on it being a tremendous expense. I use to do a lot of work at KSC and have seen and have experienced a huge waste of resources at that one location alone. I can't totally disagree with Jeff either, however if you gave me a few billion dollars and 25 years, I bet I could have come up with that LED light.

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

No doubt there is waist, heck our Gov is best at waisting, thats what they do

, but...when you look at the percent of the budget spent on NASA(1%) and consider the payback, it one of the better investments we make.

Interesting to compare it to the rest:
http://www.richardb.us/nasa.html#graph
Like Wade I get outraged to see the waist, but to chose where to cut, wow, there are a lot of better choices I think.

 

[Cracked Cork]

So how would you ferment a batch of wine in space? The water in your air lock would drift away but you could use one of those new locks that dont require water. Without gravity the wine would never clear so I guess you would have to filter it. Rack with a pump into a sealed container? Lets send Waldo up and let him give it a try Crackedcork

 

[Waldo]

I think I got it figured out cracked...book me a seat on the next shuttle and i'll do live feeds back to George's store.

 

[Wade E]

No doubt there is waist, heck our Gov is best at waisting, thats what they do

, but...when you look at the percent of the budget spent on NASA(1%) and consider the payback, it one of the better investments we make.

Interesting to compare it to the rest:
http://www.richardb.us/nasa.html#graph
Like Wade I get outraged to see the waist, but to chose where to cut, wow, there are a lot of better choices I think.

I would start with their paychecks myself then work downwards from highest amount of loss!

 

[JimCook]

Wade,


It sounds like you're speaking of our governmental administrators and not necessarily the space program. Perhaps some letters to your local Congressmen could help - maybe you can ask why they don't have to pay for health insurance too while you're at it.


In regards to that amazing time when the nation had a large unifying goal of landing on the moon, no amount of tribute is too much. I had the honor of hearing Neil Armstrong speak a couple of years ago (he's not one for public appearances) and the most impressive part was this: He said, "The computing power that took us to the moon and back is less than what is found ina watch today. But the important part is that it got us there and got us home." As JW noted, there are a tremendous amount of benefits that have come from research in and around space. At the same time, I commend Buzz Aldrin's push for travel to Mars as the next big goal. He interestingly put up the challenge that it had taken 60 years between the point where the Wright brothers had completed a successful manned flight to the point where we landed on the moon (incredible, if you think about it) and he challenged the impressiveness of landing someone on Mars sixty years after the moon landing. As President Kennedy had said when the goal was described to America, "We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. " Too often today in our cell phone/fast-food/instant gratification society, I believe we lose sight of the fact that things take work and effort and capital. America has taken risks and faced challenges since the time of her birth - it is because of those efforts that she has become great. It is because of this determination in the face of adversity that America put a man on the moon and returned him safely back to Earth, and why America adapts, improvises, and overcomes. When in doubt, think of what you can do yourself to help the situation and then act on it - it's the only real way that change happens.


- Jim