Why Does NASA Still Exist?

[Anonymouse]

What is it's point besides sucking in billions from taxpayers, and it can't even get a decent piece of junk space rocket out into space. A Cold War relic, and now the Cold War is over, what is the point of this bureaucracy?

Get rid of it!

[Sip]

... or privatize it.

Heck SpaceShipOne just went to space and came back and it only cost $30 mil to make ... so we KNOW it can be done ... and Nasa gets what? 16 BILLION a year?

[TomServo]

We are now in a "race to space" with the People's Republic of China.

[Sip]

Really?

Wow next thing you know you get spaceshuttle parts at wallmart for $3.50 on sale

[Lamb Boy]

Really?

Wow next thing you know you get spaceshuttle parts at wallmart for $3.50 on sale

HAHAA! Yea it really should be called "Mao-Mart" with the star in the middle being red for the 75% of their products that are made in China. Don't get me started ... like Old Navy that needs a navy to ship all the products from their sweat shops to cute little teeny bopper girls ... they're like "It's SOOO cheap!!", I say "which one the clothes or the cost per hour of outsoucing American jobs overseas". Take a look at the tags on Old Navy clothing (i.e. made in...) it's like a geography lesson.

Anyway as far as NASA goes they're always under scrutiny when it comes up to budget time. I'd rather see that money goto NASA then some other worthless program. NASA does some pretty cool stuff although they botch up their progress more times than not ... one step forward two back. j/k That's just the publics opinion as the played out adage goes "everybody makes mistakes the problem is everybody else remembers them." I'm sure we could cut the same amount money all together from hundreds of other absolutely worthless programs.

Usefulness? Just see NASA as the branch of the military nobody recognizes. Spy satellites, new spy satellite technology. The GPS satellites for the military ... STAR WARS!! lol

[winoman]

I'm all for private space ventures and have been a follower of news of such - however the bottom line is that if it could be done profitably it would have been done (and will be in the future) - however it is a very expensive underaking - first to just get out there/get something out there, then to build and operate anything out there and then to manage to do much that will give a proper return on all of the investment. (Of course the Russkies have focused on tourism a bit - and it seems as if this might be lucrative one day...perhaps even in our lifetimes - who knows...). In the meantime NASA is a conduit for $$$ for exploration and basic science (which for profit motive alone would never happen...) and for R & D of technologies (there are other [more or less] private avenues starting to open up here - but limited really...and it is great to see folks thinking of and doing these things - but the $$$ required (including just being able to insure such ventures - and sometimes you can't and no one will invest with this risk...) and the short term gains are not apparent to apeal to any public corporations to pursue such things - just not yet....so as much as a Dinosaur as NASA is - and as much as it has other problems - it still serves a purpose.

[winoman]

Usefulness? Just see NASA as the branch of the military nobody recognizes. Spy satellites, new spy satellite technology. The GPS satellites for the military ... STAR WARS!! lol

At one time NASA and specifically the space launch technology (rockets) being funded & developed by NASA were of military significance - along with a bunch of other stuff (primarily surveillance related) - but the direct military budgets and R & D for such stuff has far outstriped what NASA spends and if anything the relience on and who helps who etc has reversed

I would suggest perhaps reading the following books:

This one is an absolutly classic must read for those interested (I have a first edition BTW):

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0801857481/ref=pd_sxp_elt_l1/103-7367598-9188607

also (Burrows has some other great books I would recommend as well...search for yourself - you'll see what I mean...):

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375754857/ref=pd_bxgy_text_1/103-7367598-9188607?v=glance&s=books&st=*

more:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/081576457X/qid=1129905344/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/103-7367598-9188607?v=glance&s=books

This book (perhaps related) also is worth checking out...

Sex and Rockets

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0922915970/qid=1129905003/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/103-7367598-9188607?v=glance&s=books

[TomServo]

Why did they have to send Laika into space?

[Anonymouse]

No Need For NASA

Spaceshipone's success demonstrates benefits of privatized space program

By Mike Walters

"It is error alone which needs the support of government," Thomas Jefferson once said. "Truth can stand by itself." On the morning of June 21, Americans witnessed two truths. The first was that the creative mind of an engineer could fly into space at almost three times the speed of sound.

The other truth is space travel is possible without needing government support-it was financed by Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen.

"Our success proves without question that manned space flight does not require mammoth government expenditures," said Burt Rutan, the aerospace designer behind Spaceshipone and its mother ship. "It can be done by a small company operating with limited resources and a few dozen dedicated employees."

Rutan is absolutely right-no one can argue with the facts shown as clearly as his rocket's contrails stood against the blue sky over the Mojave that morning. While NASA sucks up billions of dollars trying to do a job hampered by its status as a government agency, the journey of Spaceshipone demands that private individuals should be handed the keys to the American space program.

"By placing the space program under governmental funding, we necessarily place it at the mercy of governmental whim," say Robert Garmong, a philosophy professor at Texas A&M. "The results are written all over the past 20 years of NASA's history: the Space program is a political animal, marked by shifting, inconsistent and ill-defined goals."

As a government program, NASA is forced to accomodate to, initiate and scrap projects by the will of politicians. Take for example the X-38, a project started in 1995, designed to serve as a "lifeboat" in space.

Despite the need for a support system sadly demonstrated by the Columbia tragedy, it was scrapped in 2002, only two years short of completing its flight test phase and showing a great deal of promise.

According to the Federation of American Scientists, around 200 people were employed on this project. While one can only guess at the cost of building and testing prototypes and employing that many people for that long, the bottom line is that their work was all wasted.

Corporations would never spend that kind of time and effort on a project and then dissolve it, because they are motivated by making a profit.

Without that motivation, NASA has no incentive not to spend money irresponsibly. Though a lot of good has come out of NASA, men like Rutan prove that the space program can be handled by civilians who can do the same things, and more cheaply.

"Before Wilber Wright went to Paris with his airplane, the Europeans thought he was lying," Rutan said. "Then they watched him do turns, and they watched him fly for a long time and they watched him do multiple flights a day. I believe the significant thing is that they then all said, at the same time, "I can do that, too, because these are just bicycle shop guys.'"

The fact that the era of human flight was started by a couple of "bicycle shop guys" stands as a concrete example of a notion often dismissed as idealistic by bitter old men-that ordinary human beings are capable of heroic feats of excellence, if a passion and desire to do so is followed by courageous action. The Wright brothers embodied such a spirit, and the recent flight of the Spaceshipone presents further proof of what man is capable of.

The true human spirit is found in all those things America's enemies seek to annihilate-hard work, dedication, vision and the individual rights necessary to pursue our lives and dreams. This spirit was seen as Spaceshipone climbed toward the heavens in triumph. Further, it was an accomplishment unblemished by the theft of American money. [<----this is where the article takes a little unsavory patriotic twist]

Though the Apollo landings and other such marvels in the realm of human space travel are fantastic, they are sadly marred by the ill use of government funds. As long as NASA is funded by income tax, money will be forcibly taken away from us by our government and fed into an inefficient bureaucracy that holds back what is possible.

The government must let go and allow the proof of people like Rutan are providing to convince Americans that space exploration is best handled by the men and women who can do it without stealing their funding.

[winoman]

As long as NASA is funded by income tax, money will be forcibly taken away from us by our government and fed into an inefficient bureaucracy that holds back what is possible.

Yes of course...no income tax so you rich bastards can be kings agains - etc - the real story here - what is being pushed - let the poor starve - who need em! etc

OK back to real issues. Privatized space efforts are great and should be supported (privatly and by government encouragement!). I just saw Spaceshipone a few weeks ago as a matter of fact - hanging in the Smithsonian in Washinton DC....and what a great accomplishment. However its not the same as putting men on the moon or building space stations or exploratory unmanned vehicals. So if it can't turn a short term profit - what we just don't do it? NASA is certainly a bit of a dinosaur and needs serious reform - but its naive to think that something such as space exploration can be done without a government role. Eventually - sure - space will and should be dominated by the private domaine - but that time is still a ways off - perhaps generations...unfortunatly - though if our public space program were excellerated - it would pave the way for more private possibilities. I'd much rather see the tax $$$ (and please - this no government argument - whil intellectually and emotionally apealing is just an exercise in futility and is utterly unrealitic - does not address real issues faced by people today - at least not on the level that these types address it. Sure - we need to be aware of government power and be critical of it and try to keep it in check - but it is not reality to think that it can be eliminated - at this time) - and Space exploration takes big $$$ (even if basic stuff - like orbiting at low altitudes is now becomming achivable - and thats great) - but I'd rather see the $$$ spent on expanding our knowledge and froutiers in space then on another fleet of bombers and in Iraq and such....If I thought that private concerns would be putting a man (colony etc) on mars anytime soon I'd buy as much stock in the company as I could and promote them to no end - but I just don't see it - not yet...in the meanwhile government funded effort is the only way to achieve these goals - and even they are way underfunded and under ambitious (again the $$$ it takes and the percieved payoffss...)