Political Support for Space

[LunarOrbit]

-40 is actually the only point on a thermometer that is the same in Ferhenheit and Celcius. Just a useless bit of trivia since that's all I can contribute to this thread at the moment...

[RCS1]

"SCE to Aux."

That was the Launch of Apollo 12 right? Pete Conrad as CMP/Mission Commander? Taking porn to the moon on his wrist checklist?

[cartmancakes]

It will be interesting what the moon hoax people do with the new Orion 13 craft in 13 years.  Of even more interest, I wonder if Orion will land near an Apollo site and check out the hardware.  One more interest, since the MRO has taken a photograph of Opportunity, I wonder if the LRO will be able to do this for the Apollo sites.  Finally shut up those cowards!

Oh wait.  The MRO was probably faked.  Everyone knows you can't land on Mars!  There's not enough atmosphere to slow your descent! 

[Satanic Mechanic]

I wonder if the Constellation program (Ares/Orion) will suffer under a Democrat controlled House.  Typically the Democrats love to chop funding to science/research programs to support social programs.  I remember during the 90's, Breeder Reactor research was chopped, the super collider was scrapped and the budget for my hybrid/electric vehicle research dried up.

SM

[cartmancakes]

Well, hopefully the public support of the VSE will help with that.  Plus we always have Bush's powerful veto pen!  I always assumed that by 2008, when Bush is out of office, the Vision would be far enough along to be hard to cancel.  But, with some quick research, I've found that NASA has lost funding late in the game before (X-15 comes to mind).  We can only hope...

SatanicMechanic...  What do you do?

[Bob B.]

I always assumed that by 2008, when Bush is out of office, the Vision would be far enough along to be hard to cancel.

I've always considered the next President to be the crucial one.  If who ever takes office in 2009 is supportive of VSE, then I think it might have a chance of succeeding.  If not, then I see the program getting the axe.  I definitely don't think 2009 is too late to cancel, but if we make it to 2013 or 2017 it will become increasingly harder to put an end to it because of what has already been invested.

[Satanic Mechanic]

SatanicMechanic...  What do you do?

I am an engineer for a R&D department.  I mainly work on communication protocols.

[ijuin]

The necessity of bringing the Shuttle program to a close (the airframes are getting too old, and new ones would cost too much money) ensures that at least the Block One Orion will be built and operated. The Block Two (lunar missions) model, though, might be delayed if Congress wants to slash NASA funding.

It always gets me that the Department of Defense gets twenty to thirty times the budget of NASA and yet it's always NASA that is pointed to as a waste of funds. The DOD presumably wastes more than NASA's entire budget--I have yet to see any bureaucracy, government or otherwise, that doesn't waste at least three or four percent.

[Satanic Mechanic]

It always gets me that the Department of Defense gets twenty to thirty times the budget of NASA and yet it's always NASA that is pointed to as a waste of funds. The DOD presumably wastes more than NASA's entire budget--I have yet to see any bureaucracy, government or otherwise, that doesn't waste at least three or four percent.

DoD is not the only budget that is wasteful, there are many others as well.  Many social programs are more wasteful then national defense.  Department of Education is a huge waste considering all states have their own Department of Education.  The biggest waste of all is pork barrell spending bills.  The pork highway bill that was passed last year had tons of waste like building new expensive bridges for towns with less than 100 people in them.

SM

[DonPMitchell]

Yeah...what SM just said.

Fortunately, space is strategically vital.  The US military space budget is bigger than NASA's, and will always be there to keep stimulating technology and maintaining an experienced space industry.

[cartmancakes]

The necessity of bringing the Shuttle program to a close (the airframes are getting too old, and new ones would cost too much money) ensures that at least the Block One Orion will be built and operated. The Block Two (lunar missions) model, though, might be delayed if Congress wants to slash NASA funding.

you make a good point here.  If the next president decides to kill the VSE in 2009, then Block One will probably go forward.  Block Two is the scary one.  Even in 2013, Block Two could be cancelled, as the expensive Ares V hasn't been developed yet.  2017 is a much safer place for Block Two.  However, even then the government could easily say, "Let's keep the ISS!", and kill the whole project.  It should be interesting.

Luckily, the VSE has some good support behind it...