Obama end U.S. manned space program

Discussion in 'Free Speech Alley' started by Bengal Buddy, Feb 14, 2010.

  1. Bengal Buddy

    Bengal Buddy Founding Member

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    By the end of this year there will no longer be a manned space program. Our fearless leader has ended its funding because, at three billion dollars a year, it is just to expensive. The Shuttle program is scheduled to end this year and the United States had previously agreed to allow Russia to be responsible for getting American astronauts to the international space station until we can replace the aging shuttle with the Constellation program consisting of the Ares booster, the Orion space capsule and the Altair Lunar Lander.

    The Obama budget for 2011 kills the Constellation program. For decades now the United States has dominated low-Earth orbit. No more. For the first time since the early 60s the United States will have no way of putting American astronauts into space either in imediate future or in the forseeable future.

    Obama has kept the Mars program intact, but so what? The Constellation program was supposed to be a stepping stone to achieving a Martain landing. The point is he has ended an achieveable, short-range program for which we have the technology now, in favor of one that is far, far off and for which the technology is still in its developmental stage. If we can't afford Ares and Orion to get us to the moon, how in the world can we afford to get men to Mars?

    Obama has hailed this abdication as progress because he claims responsibility for manned exploration of space will now be turned over to private enterprise. But that is not very likely. Space exploration is just too experimental and expensive for private enterprise to handle not to mention the enormous safety requirements involved.

    To end such a critical program because we cannof afford the three billion dollars is ridiculous. It is a fraction of the stimulus spending that has accomplished nothing. The truth is that Obama has no commitment to space exploration. Since his inauguration he has not made a single space in favor of it; has not committed an ounce of political captial towards it. Space exploration is the future. But Obama has decided to look inward rather than outward. The American space program began with a bang when President Kennedy committed the United States to landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade "not because it is easy, but because it is hard." What began with a bang now goes out with a whimper.

    Well, we wanted change.
     
  2. tirk

    tirk im the lyrical jessie james

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    Obama effectively ends U.S.-manned space flight | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment
     
  3. martin

    martin Banned Forever

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    we dont need to be spending money on space.
     
  4. red55

    red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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    Several points come immediately to mind:

    1. Canceling one manned program does not end manned spaceflight. The mars landing program is still being studied. We still will be the major player in the space station efforts. There will be work for NASA astronauts. It's just that there will be more work for private sector astronauts.

    2. Canceling one program that has always had a low cost-benefit ratio during hard economic times may make good sense. We've already sent capsules to the moon. Why relive the sixties?

    3. Has anybody ever heard of robotics? Our spy satellites have always been unmanned. We have robotic bombers in action today. We have robotic jet fighters under development. We have long controlled the airspace of this planet and using unmanned technology has not diminished any of our capabilities in the atmosphere. We have always used unmanned technology exclusively in interplanetary space travel and utilizing it in orbital space will not diminish our control of it.

    4. Where are all the right wingnuts screaming about government control? NASA is a very expensive and wasteful government spending program, as important as it has been. Now, here is Obama, whom Republicans are quick to call a socialist, talking about privatizing the space program and re-channeling millions from NASA government employees to the mushrooming private space industry in this country. That's right out of the republican playbook, but since they have become the party of "NO", they now maintain that for a democrat to suggest this is somehow unpatriotic.
     
  5. martin

    martin Banned Forever

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    i am right here, screaming about government control. nasa is expensive and wasteful.
     
  6. Bandit88

    Bandit88 Old Enough to Know Better

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    Space is HUGELY important. I doubt this means we're disengaging from space exploration, R&D, etc.

    If it does - it would be catastrophic.
     
  7. Sourdoughman

    Sourdoughman TigerFan of LSU and the Tigerman

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    I agree, people should stick to their beliefs.
    There is no doubt that Nasa's space program is sentimental to most and I think that is what is going on here.
    I just hope they change the name of Nasa to global warming warning center or something because Nasa no longer is Nasa.
    I don't like what Obama is trying to make it though.
    We don't need another corrupt organization out there with no spending limits supposedly researching global doom.
     
  8. Sourdoughman

    Sourdoughman TigerFan of LSU and the Tigerman

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    I would say that Obama is catastrophic to the country.
    He is trying to remake the country into his image!:popcorn:
     
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  9. LSUsupaFan

    LSUsupaFan Founding Member

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    Now we will never know if ants can sort tiny screws in space.
     
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  10. LSUsupaFan

    LSUsupaFan Founding Member

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    You are so dead on this. The Republicans are always about privatizing and making government smaller unless it is proposed by a Democrat.
     

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