Comments on: More notes from the STA breakfast

By: John Malkin

John Malkin — Sun, 11 Jul 2004 05:33:04 +0000

I would love a Martian born son or daughter. Or should she be born on Venus.

By: Bill White

Bill White — Fri, 09 Jul 2004 18:35:20 +0000

“What should Americans be doing in space in 50 years?”

Make that 75 or 100 or 150 years and “having babies” is the only sustainable answer.

By: John Malkin

John Malkin — Fri, 09 Jul 2004 18:03:53 +0000

Actually pressure from the Air force and Congress has help create the environment in NASA over the years. Congress frequently uses NASA as a fall guy. NASA doesn’t do much damage control; an example is the 1 Trillion price tag put out by the media inaccurately. NASA did little to dispute this amount maybe because they don’t have a firm price for the Space Exploration Vision.

I hope Congress doesn’t loose sight of the purpose of a vision, the details of the vision isn’t as important as having a long range goal for Space and NASA. This goal shouldn’t be the hardware or administrative structure but a long range goal. What should Americans be doing in space in 50 years? And focus resources to this goal. One big problem with both Kennedy’s and Regan’s vision was it was short range and too specific. We need to be the leaders otherwise we will loose the strategic advantage.

By: Bill White

Bill White — Fri, 09 Jul 2004 17:32:48 +0000

Is Tom DeLay’s primary interest to promote space or is he more interested in maintaining party unity and discipline?

Passing this appropriation by twisting arms (as was done with the recent Patriot Act vote) seems to me to be exactly the wrong way to go if we want “America” to embrace this vision with a bi-partisan spirit.

Consensus requires dialouge, not discipline.

By: Harold LaValley

Harold LaValley — Fri, 09 Jul 2004 16:40:31 +0000

Nasa’s own mistakes of the 80’s, 90’s and in this current century make funding a bigger issue than it should be. It’s past has been marred with failed rocket designs, the space shuttles distuctions and the looming cost over runs on multiple projects. They themselves are the only ones to blame for the publics perception of this agency.
Nasa needs to show real proof of change before additional funding for the Space Exploration Vision will take place.
Nasa’s own people know the truth. Some have even come out of the closet in so much as to say so on the editorial pages of the Florida today, the NasaWatch comment logs and onto numerous web blogs.
This watch may be ticking but it is still broken.