When are we going to dump NASA? Nobody cares anymore.The whole thing is boring, fruitless and now?

Question

Plagued with scandle. We put men on the Moon in
'69 with sliderule technology, and now all we do is go around and around and wait for the next disaster. By now we should have been on Mars. At least we got Tang for all the billions we've spent.

Answer 1

Boring? NASA wasn't invented to entertain you. If you're bored, change the channel.

Answer 2

Sure, NASA has had its problems. Because of many factors including loss of funding and a lack of vision over the past few years. The Challenger and Columbia Accidents were in some ways a reflection of this. However, they do still earn their right to exist.

They have contributed a lot more than just tang to our world and our Scientific understanding of the Universe. They have given us the Hubble Space Telescope, the knowledge of the Solar System from numerous probes, images of Mars, and the list goes on.

Also, Private business is involved in almost every project NASA does. Do you know who really is building the ISS? It is not being built at NASA but by Boeing as a contractor for NASA. NASA is just the core of America's space industry right now.

Answer 3

I think you are exaggurating problems. First, we had pretty sophtisicated computers in the 1960s; they were big compared to the stuff we have now. Second, going to the moon compared to some of the fling from planet to planet stuff we do now was pretty simple. Your point about 'being on Mars by now' is gratitious; we only have one NASA, and they tend to be very cautious. If you look at an Astronomy book in the 1960s and one we have now, it is amazing how many changes and revisions have been made. So drink your Tang and come to your own conclusions rather than parroting thos of someone else.

Answer 4

NASA is not just about space stuff, they do a lot of research on the ground

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070721223928AAMWVsv&r=w&pa=AptqD2bwHTHf5uSCYaQzvezSA92mq7kpvy5on9OaJPcBPtgXjNyZ6a6pzj862fFmDrdYZ4_u8G1x9Q--&paid=voted

i was fielding questions on space law

NASA is aiming to have 30% commercialisation to keep up with the industry, many players have entered the space market, if you dont believe me, look at the market for space tourism- its big, and its the most easiest way a person can make money from space- bar the unusual advertising in space and the iss.

the recent NASA disasters occurred because the shuttles we have have been running for 30 years, they are scheduled for decommission in 2010 i think it was.

we dont need to dump nasa, but we will be seeing newer players enter this market, the emergence of other space powers like india, china along with the EU's ESA will give it a run for its money, and it will have to keep up, but we are long past the cold war eras

we are entering a new phase of space- i.e international cooperation. but the pvt enterprises that have entered the market and those seeking to profit from resource mining, tourism and satellite communications will probably go it alone because they want the profits, they are however backed up by many financiers and insurance companies.

the USA in 1998 added russia and other countries to their list of parties to the ISS. and they were really frustrated at the expenses it has taken to get it up there, its still under construction, and a lot of it has been cut down, for example, only 3 people can be on the ISS at one time coz the emergency shuttle can only evacuate that many (it was originally meant to be bigger)

Answer 5

You ought to do a little research on the plethora of great things that exist because of NASA. Remember that when we went to the moon, NASA had a nearly unlimited budget. They were given as much money as they needed to get the job done in time. These days it's far more limited.

I find it surprising that a few very minor little hiccups in the process have caused people to completely lose faith in NASA already. Far worse things happen on a routine basis in sectors of government that demonstrate far less usefulness than NASA.

Basically you're saying "Since we haven't gone to mars yet, lets just give up on it entirely." Exploration and colonization of space is probably one of the most important human endeavors of our time because if we do not do it, we will stagnate and die here on this planet. I'm sorry if it isn't happening on your timetable. I would like it to go faster too, but if that's what you want then people better stop bitching about "wasting" money on NASA. NASA provides a much higher return the money that goes into it than any other government agency by far in terms of jobs, economic stimulation and technology.

Answer 6

Are you boring and fruitless? What have you achieved?

NASA does extremely well on a tight budget.

If you are bored with what they do and achieve, then I'd say you don't understand what they are doing and you don't understand how expensive it is to do anything in space.

Complain to the people who make the financial decisions.

Personally, I am fed up with people who know so little about space, that they can't see how fantastic is the space program.

Go write your boring stuff on something you do understand.

(PS - the stuff about boozing astronauts could turn out to be totally false. Don't automatically believe the worst, as there is a lot of hype and nonsense put out about NASA.)

Answer 7

I don't understand the point of going to the moon or mars, but I could understand the reasons for orbital space travel as a necessary means to repair very expensive and very important equipment, such as the Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble is an important tool in the search for the answers to age-old questions.

Answer 8

If we had private companies that could handle the rest of he construction of the ISS, upkeep of the various satellites in orbit (including the secret military ones), and could do it cheaper (which they usually do), we should. But, we don't. So, we can't dump NASA.

Space and deep ocean are the only things left to explore. I couldn't stand it if one of those were cut off merely because of a few scandals.

Answer 9

exactly. you know what i think? Japan should be in for space exploration, cause they make stuff...so perfect, so why not? I'm sure you have head of the Columbia disaster....that was imperfect wing tile and the the whole thing caught on fire.

Answer 10

Hey, they make for interesting headlines.