Does anyone else think all NASA employees should be sent home?

[bryanthompson]

Originally posted by techweenie
The more I read from some posters on OT, the better the vast silence of space looks...

Who was it that once said: 'It takes an optimist to sit in a capsule on top of a rocket filled with tons of highly explosive fuel and reflect that every one of the two million component parts came from the lowest bidder."

I think that quote is from the movie Armageddon.

[dd74]

Originally posted by LubeMaster77
dd74 - so what your saying is that I should take in my trash cans rather than looking down the street to bring in my neighbors?

Space is cool but the enviromnet and the body is far more important. I don't beotch at my nieghbors trash cans untill mine are taken care of.

I guess there's something to be found in your analogy. Problem is, I can't find it...

[930addict]

Originally posted by Leader
At the risk of being flamed to the ground...I'm beginning to wonder why we continue to spend billions on "space exploration." Somehow the whole NASA program made more sense in the '60s and '70s when the world was a more predictable place. Now, with the threats to our country so ever-present, maybe that space money could be better allocated.
Sure, the space program has given us countless discoveries that have made all our lives easier and better, but it didn't stop those idiots from flying planes into the WTC and Pentagon. Just a thought...

I couldn't agree more.

[dhoward]

Short-sighted and unenlightened...
http://t2www.nasa.r3h.net/pdf/103475main_spinoff_04.pdf

[1967 R50/2]

Originally posted by Leader
At the risk of being flamed to the ground...I'm beginning to wonder why we continue to spend billions on "space exploration." Somehow the whole NASA program made more sense in the '60s and '70s when the world was a more predictable place. Now, with the threats to our country so ever-present, maybe that space money could be better allocated.
Sure, the space program has given us countless discoveries that have made all our lives easier and better, but it didn't stop those idiots from flying planes into the WTC and Pentagon. Just a thought...

I love how butter spread so easily on my toast, but it didn't stop those idiots from flying planes into WTC and Pentagon. Maybe that dairy industry subsidies can be better used elsewhere. Just a Thought.

Seriously, I see no relation there whatsoever.

My OP- NASA is one of the few things that I really want to spend taxes on. Look at it this way, the space program has given a great boost to telecommunications,(satellites), material sciences, (lightweight stuff like Ti and CF), not to mention computers etc. Plus you get to learn about the universe in the process. Considering the pittance that is spent on NASA....and it is a pittance in the grand scheme of our GDP, it's a bargain.

The real shame is why they are still bumming around with a spacecraft that is 30 some-odd years old. Most 30 year old cars will break down and require expensive maintenance. Why would it be any different on the space shuttle which is way more comlicated and put through much greater stresses? That was a rhetorical question: It is different, it's much worse.

[Moneyguy1]

I tried making the point before, but it was largely ignored. Just where do these billions go? Do they just disappear or are they used to pay salaries, wages, purchase lots of hardware from subcontractors, ranging from the big boys to the little machine shops? Does not the multiplier effect take hold? If it were suddenly to end, how many people would be out of work and how many companies would have to lock their doors?

Sorry, nay-sayers, you haven't thought out the problem very well.

[Superman]

I wanna go to outer space. And I think some of you would probably be willing to make a financial contribution if you thought that might really happen. (smiley, wavey face goes here)

[Shuie]

I want a personal jetpack.

[dd74]

I want us to be visited by something from out there.

[Superman]

Originally posted by Moneyguy1
I tried making the point before, but it was largely ignored. Just where do these billions go? Do they just disappear or are they used to pay salaries, wages, purchase lots of hardware from subcontractors, ranging from the big boys to the little machine shops? Does not the multiplier effect take hold? If it were suddenly to end, how many people would be out of work and how many companies would have to lock their doors?

Sorry, nay-sayers, you haven't thought out the problem very well.

I like space exploration, but I also want you to feel like your point is considered. If we stopped doing NASA stuff, and we didn't spend the money elsewhere, then the multiplier jobs and stuff would go away, but so would some of our COLOSSAL national debt ($50,000 per person, $100,000 per person, whatever that debt is that we're carrying now that is hurting us). If we stopped spending on NASA but didn't want to reduce our deficit spending, then perhaps we could use some of those billions on infrastructure, which really does more than just create jobs (the same number of jobs, or perhaps even more jobs, than the same money spend on NASA). It also improves our ability to move products and materials and families and workers to where they can be more productive than sitting in traffic ballups (road infrastructure). Spending that money on research like alternative energy sources could reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and eliminate the need to clobber terrorists in countries that are floating on a lake of oil (and of course it would create jobs and the multiplier effect would still be in place).

So you see, moving money out of NASA does not necessarily send the nation into an economic tailspin.

[island911]

Endeavors like this are the one thing that separates US from the rest. The US leads the push the new technology frontiers (NASA, Genome ...)

The lib's in this and other countries can whine about the US not giving as much aid to left-handed Ethiopian orphans (or whatever the trivial cause that others are championing) But no other country can lay claim to such forward-looking, bold-spirited, human pursuits.

[dhoward]

But Island, we could be using that money for healthcare for all of the undocumented aliens, and save the itchy algae, and providing for everyone equally...

[Moneyguy1]

Supe: Respectfully....NASA does more in research than built giant fireworks. Many of the points you make they have contributed to. As for the impact on the National Debt, I would posit that the percentage spent on NASA is far smaller than the "boondoggle" and "pork barrel" projects that Congress authorizes like bridges in Alaska that go onwhere and such.

WIthout advanced research and technology we would be a third rate power.

I worked in aerospace for a few years back in the 70s. What you use today re: computers (color, light pens, etc) , imaging(digital), powerful lasers and more we had back then. Makes you wonder what is out there in the pipeline now.

[VaSteve]

Originally posted by Superman
If we stopped spending on NASA but didn't want to reduce our deficit spending, then perhaps we could use some of those billions on infrastructure, which really does more than just create jobs (the same number of jobs, or perhaps even more jobs, than the same money spend on NASA). It also improves our ability to move products and materials and families and workers to where they can be more productive than sitting in traffic ballups (road infrastructure).

If you take away NASA, then I don't have to spend my time sitting in traffic driving there to work any longer. But I will have a nice new road to not drive on to not get there in the car I can't afford. But I guess I could get a job for half my pay building the road so other people can not get to their jobs any longer. But at least we'll have a nice road that none of us can afford to drive.

I'm not saying getting rid of one agency will collapse the economy, but then we start looking at what other agencies we have that we really don't need. We could progressively whittle it down to just the military who will protect our stuff from getting stolen untill we decide we don't need that either cause there's nothing worth staying for. Last one out of the country turns off the lights. Oh wait, isn't that Saudi Arabia? Lots of money, probably no national debt. 25% unemployment. Nothing to do. "Hey, wanna go to a mosque with me, they have this guy there, you should hear his message..."

Let's get rid of whatever agency that hands out the welfare checks and food stamps. Perhaps those people could buil this infrastructure if they weren't laying around watching Jenny Jones and Jerry Springer.


(professional debators, did I get that right? The slippery slope? )

[island911]

Originally posted by VaSteve
. .. Oh wait, isn't that Saudi Arabia? Lots of money, probably no national debt. 25% unemployment. Nothing to do. "Hey, wanna go to a mosque with me, they have this guy there, you should hear his message..."
.. .

Exactly!

Thankfully, most of the world has a culture of moving fwd . .. always working to better ourselves and our surroundings.

[tswaney]

dhoward,
Excellent link!

[dhoward]

I'm a firm beliver in the NASA program. It's one government organization that I can see direct benefits from.

[IROC]

Here's a relevant snippet I found in some of the news (or propaganda) we get here at work:

"A recently released Gallup survey showed strong and growing support for the Vision for Space Exploration. Seventy-seven percent of respondents -- as compared to 68 percent in a similar poll conducted last year --expressed support or strong support for the nation's new space exploration plan. Funding for such a program is expected not to exceed one percent of the total federal budget. NASA's current budget request amounts of .7 percent -- or about $58 per year for the average citizen -- of federal spending, as compared to about four percent at the height of the Apollo program."

Mike

[adamred]

The fun continues at NASA

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/07/25/space.shuttle/index.html

Crossing our fingers, hopefully it goes up without a hitch, we're breaking our own rules here, everyone take a deep breath and push the button!

I guess they are ensuring the whole world is watching this one....

[VaSteve]

Adam, yes you have a point there.