While former Congressman Nick Lampson may not be in the running to be NASA administrator, he has picked up an endorsement of sorts from the current Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, the Orlando Sentinel reports. “I think he is a great person” for the NASA administrator job, she told the paper. “I really know Nick Lampson. I think he would be fantastic.”
The article adds that Pelosi is less supportive, though, of proposals to extend the life of the shuttle beyond 2010, something an increasing number of members of the Florida Congressional delegation, Republicans and Democrats, are pushing. The house version of the FY2010 budget resolution made no mention of extending the life of the shuttle, unlike the Senate version. “There is competition for dollars as to how you spend the science dollars,” she told the Sentinel. “You can’t increase the amount of money, or that would be endless.”
Sure, we can’t spend a couple of extra billion for just a few years when the plans clearly call for nearly a trillion in “stimulus” full of items on her social agenda, government run health care, etc.
It’s one thing to prop up the shuttle program for another few years, and another thing to talk about real investment, which is what stimulus money is supposed to do. I suspect that’s the distinction that Pelosi is making (whether she really understands it herself or not). Throwing money at shuttle ops isn’t going to move us forward capability-wise. Not clear if gap-reduction can be spun as a stimulus priority.
OV-106, eh? I can tell where you’re coming from.
No you can’t Doug. It’s just a name. I want to move forward as much as anyone but not at the expense of terminating a capability and leaving the nation short-changed. A couple of extra billion will allow that not to happen and shuttle being retired when a new capability is ready.
Finally, why should we invest in high-paying technical jobs with sending Americans into space on our own vehicle when the “stimulus” money could be spent on condoms instead? As our esteamed Speaker said, the “science dollars” only go so far and surely we would ask for more to bring that wacky science stuff to the people for use in their every day lives. Can’t have that happen when we’ve got government run social programs to fund instead.
Why, you ask? Because the condoms might actually leave our nation better off. (Can you imagine how many a shuttle flight would buy?!) Not at all clear that a few extra years of shuttle does that, except in a highly symbolic way, which could be termed the de-gapifying of US space exploration. Terminating capabilities that don’t offer clear value has some merit, and Mike Griffin understood that. The shuttle can’t get us where we really want to go, which is cis-lunar space. We’re even afraid to use it for anything other than ISS access.
Now, in general, “science stuff” surely brings people things that improve their quality of life. But how exactly is it that shuttle does that? No wonder the Speaker is “esteamed”. Trying to stick a “science” label on shuttle is something that would get anyone steamed. They tried to do that on ISS, and the label just wouldn’t stick!
Shuttle has been a marvelous tool, and a technological tour de force. But it’s getting long in the tooth, and it’s time for us to move on. Propping up such a facility through the regular appropriations process is forgivable, since that process is like a ship that is hard to turn around, but using one-time stimulus dollars for anything other than “meeting our most urgent challenges” is not consistent with White House policy.
Just the fact of that moron Nancy Pelosi being for Lampson is enough to make me question his qualifications.
Like one poster said at NASAWatch “I doubt Pelosi could ID him in a line up.”
As far as understanding science, engineering and technology, Obama is an empty suit.
It’s going to be a long four years, folks.
The point Doug was that Pelosi is “supportive” of the idea of an extension. However she also says the “science dollars” are fixed. That’s seems short sighted to me for all those in power who promise how science and tech are going to help us win the day. We’re ready to spend all this money so that our debt gets much more massive than it already is but science and tech is fixed. Why? Because in my opinion, and there are already sign of, there are plans for massive social programs that will never allow the government to spend money on anything else.
Consider the shuttle what you will but it most capable of flying beyond 2010, certainly for a few more years.