Comments on: Presidential science advisor Holdren: exhilaration still beats frustration

By: Dark Blue Nine

Dark Blue Nine — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 19:37:30 +0000

This, a manned circum-Mars mission, is exhilirating:

http://www.newspacejournal.com/2013/02/21/new-insights-on-that-private-crewed-mars-mission/

But it’s a private effort, and Holdren and the White House can’t claim much credit for it beyond the few hundred million they’ve put into crewed Dragon via CCDev.

Unfortunately, the vast bulk of the billions spent by the Obama Administration on human space exploration development is frustratingly going to an overweight, broken Apollo-era capsule program and an heavy lift launch vehicle that is so expensive that the only piece of actual exploration hardware underway is getting built in Europe.

It would be nice if, instead of reflecting on his own exhiliration and frustration, Holdren could focus to reduce a lot of frustration with NASA’s political constraints so that there could be a lot more exhilirating space program for our tax dollars.

By: Coastal Ron

Coastal Ron — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 17:54:19 +0000

Regardless, what you attributed to the President wasn’t accurate anyways.

By: yg1968

yg1968 — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 17:31:22 +0000

I was talking about the impact of global warning on hurricanes in 2080. Not everything else.

By: NeilShipley

NeilShipley — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 13:26:40 +0000

The start of U.S. hsf. Sad where it’s ended up. To all intents and purposes, a jobs program. To hell with scientific endeavour, etc.

By: Rand Simberg

Rand Simberg — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 05:20:12 +0000

Sorry, but the second “history” should have ended in a quote.

By: Rand Simberg

Rand Simberg — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 05:19:32 +0000

Sorry, but if by “historic lows” and “history is only a hundred years of so, this is a meaningless statement in the contest of planetary history. But this has drifted way off topic from space policy.

By: Rand Simberg

Rand Simberg — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 05:17:50 +0000

If you think that there is any kind of distinction between those two statements, you’re kind of…illogical.

By: Robert G. Oler

Robert G. Oler — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 04:17:20 +0000

Pause to remember what happened on Feb 20, 1962…

Along with seeing the spacecraft, talking with the now Senator and having some “stuff” from Kano Control…I’ve seen the only known surviving fragments of the Atlas launch vehicle in the Pretoria SA science museum. “Zero G and I feel fine” RGO

By: DCSCA

DCSCA — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 03:13:37 +0000

One wonders why, then, the president suggested, against scientific evidence, that storms like Sandy are caused by global warming? mocked Mar.

This is just stupid, Mark. ‘Denial’ is a river in Egypt.

By: DCSCA

DCSCA — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 03:12:11 +0000

“SLS is buckling and Orion is cracking and a tubby program.”

It’s a geo-political strategy. Just like SDI.