On several levels. I don’t have time to adequately critique it right now, because I’m about to be on another conference panel, but briefly, ignoring the foolish hysteria (we were in the same position from early 2003 to late 2005), one would never know from this article that the decision to end the Shuttle program was made over six years ago. We had a different president then. His name wasn’t “Obama.”
4 thoughts on “Well, Here’s A Stupid Article”
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Well, I’ve read it all now. Don’t know how much in the Fox article is a mis-quote but it’s just silly. Some of the comments are revealing though. Some folk just don’t seem to understand anything of the way in which their politicians lie to them.
I guess we get the government we deserve because not enough people pay attention to their rights as defined in the constitution or their responsibilities as citizens.
It’s like the game you Americans call “telephone”, and less PC countries still call “chinese whispers”.
“I heard that the FY11 budget request calls for the cancellation of the Constellation program which was originally intended to take us back to the Moon by 2020 and provide a crew launch replacement for the Space Shuttle when it retires in 2010.”
“Wow, Obama canceled the Moon program and the replacement for the Shuttle, he must hate space.”
“Obama canceled the Moon and the Shuttle, he wants to close down NASA.”
“Seems everything is being outsourced these days, Obama canceled human spaceflight, now we’re going to have to pay a fortune for rides with the Russians.”
pretty soon I expect..
“Obama wants to sell the ISS to the Russians and if they wont pay he’s going to deorbit it, and close down NASA.”
I don’t see how this is any different from the distortions and outright lies Obama’s supporters routinely engage in. If they’ve abandoned truth, they can hardly expect any better from their opponents.
Though, NASA DID want to deorbit the ISS, it now is going to only be flying astronauts to the ISS on the Soyuz until 2015. The return to the moon program has been canceled.
What surprises me is that so much was ignored until Constellation was canceled (ok really it hasn’t yet been canceled since Congress hasn’t approved any of these proposals)? Shuttle had long been scheduled to be shut down around now. It was going to take the US out of the maned spaceflight/exploration busness.. Perhaps the gap was tolerable politically if it was intended only as a gap until the replacement was fielded. Now its just a shutdown with no follow up planed, which is more of a political issue? Or a bigger issue with the press/public?