Goodbye NASA

[coolkirb]

Its space or bust for humanity in the future, why would they cut funding by so much?

Sadface

Because most people now are solely focusing on themselves in a manner of speaking. Why spend money on the exploration of space and later, the colonization of it, when that money can be spent solving all our problems here on Earth?

Some people really don't have a concept of the longevity of this species. Space is where the future of humanity lies. It is where we as a species will look back down on the Earth and notice that our boarders, our difference are small, trivial things and that we are all human.

Call my notions romanticizing space but this is what I honestly believe.

Well thats somewhat true their are still tens of thousands of years before we need to even think about needing a new planet and if you look at how far we have come in the last thousand years I wouldent be to worried.

 

[brainslurper]

Wait, Goodbye NASA? Did I miss something? I thought that only the current shuttles will be retired and that it's the last flight of a shuttle but the space program will continue with different spacecrafts and NASA will continue as well.

Yes, you thought correctly. The person who started this thread seems to think that space shuttles is the only thing that nasa does, and that is terribly incorrect. Shuttles are old tech and cost way too much, so nasa dropped them as the means we deliver supplies to the space station. That is all.

 

[Spade Lead]

I'm sad that people continue to write of NASA as an expensive hobby.

The fact of the matter is that we're going to continue to have problems here that require attention and budget. If we continue to cut out advancement to temporarily alleviate some of the problems here, we won't get anywhere.

I don't know. I guess I am selfish. Whatever. It doesn't change how it makes me sad.

No, I agree. I have always loved looking up at the stars, and speculating about what was out there. Then, last semester, I took an Astronomy course at college, and suddenly I knew what I wanted to do with my life. A Doctorate in one the Astronomical sciences (Astro-Physics or something like that, not quite sure WHAT yet exactly...).

The way civilization advances is through the inventions that we create through research and development. If we stop RESEARCH, we lose development automatically. Sure, going up into space is expensive, but so is exploring the jungles or bottom of the sea. How else will we discover the next new awesome technology that will give us the advances we need to expand human understanding of the universe? Sure, to some people space is boring. Personally, I don't care about the rainforests, but even then, I still believe that we need them, and to understand the way they are. What if there are other forms of life out there (and it is considered a mathematical impossibility that we are alone) then we need to learn to communicate with them, and hopefully learn more about our own existence from it...

You know, I keep meaning to download the SETI program to help out, now is as good a time as any...

FOR SCIENCE!

 

[SirDoom]

They aren't shutting down NASA, as people have stated.

The shuttle program was intended to be a cheaper alternative to rockets that were one-time use one. This isn't what happened. Shuttle maintenance was so costly that they lost money on it, so they're finally ending the program to go back to rockets. I haven't heard anything new since the Ares rockets about a year ago, but that's about it.

They are cutting funding to NASA though. A lot, from what I hear. Seeing as how I live in an area with a LOT of NASA and aerospace jobs, I don't like that. If our government should be spending money, it should be on things like that. Exploration, new technology, science, and so on. But no, the military needs the money for more and more wars. The poor need it for healthcare. China needs it for debt payoff. Nobody cares about moving forward anymore. Everyone's focused on the past, or the current times at most.

 

[Tiger Sora]

Good riddance to a horrifically expensive chapter of American history. And hello to a whole new wave of cash sucking programs they really shouldn't be implemented anytime soon. Lol.

Space now belongs to the Russians. A great day for the motherland.

 

[Fbuh]

I have a hard time believing that they are just shutting down NASA. They have something up their sleeves. They are not just going to abandon decades worth of investment in space exploration. Unless the world really is ending enxt year and they know it for a fact, and thus are trying to shift funds into somethign that could help people survive and rebuild.

 

[Justin1221]

It is kinda sad that NASA is gonna stop (unless something else is gonna take it's place), but as long as SOMEONE SOMEWHERE is looking into space exploration and developing things that could help lead to a more amazing and vast future and as long as Humankind doesn't self-destruct along the way, I still have faith, even though I may never live to see another intelligent species.

"It's been a long road
Getting from there to here
It's been a long time
But my time is finally near

And I can feel the change in the wind right now
Nothing's in my way
And they're not gonna hold me down no more
No they're not gonna hold me back

Cause I've got faith of the heart
I'm going where my heart will take me
I've got faith to believe
I can do anything
I've got strength of the soul
And no one's gonna bend or break me
I can reach any star
I've got faith
I've got faith
Faith of the heart"

 

[Grayjack]

They're not shutting down NASA, they're just retiring the Space Shuttle because it's getting old. We're already working on new rockets, it's not the end.

 

[Chunko]

Who will come up with revolutionary technological advances like post-its now!?

 

[Kevin7557]

Good riddens. After Reading Dark Mission I must say this is almost a blessing. All these people did was lie to us, hide evidence of what they really found, and lie some more. In fact there is a quote which goes about how government agencies all lie but NASA was the onlyone that made a habit out of it.

So am I sad to see it go, no.

 

[aashell13]

From what I have heard, they are simply retire the current shuttle they are using which is about 30 years old, and are going to develop a new one

that's the kicker though. there are no clear plans for a shuttle replacement. the only thing NASA was able to salvage from the now-cancelled Constellation program is the Orion crew capsule, which is useless without a new booster rocket.

 

[Ben Simon]

NASA's not dead. It'll be back and better than ever in a decade or so.

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

From what I have heard, they are simply retire the current shuttle they are using which is about 30 years old, and are going to develop a new one

This.
They will still be around, they're just going to stop using shuttles and move on to some new thing.
Remember: the shuttles aren't exactly new.

 

[Nudu]

The US really should be spending more on science and less on military.

 

[Lamppenkeyboard]

I'm gonig to take this opportunity to troll

well at least you still got all that money for your army

Silly troll, we have China's money for that.

 

[Red Albatross]

This is the end of an era and a horribly sad day, not just for the U.S. but for all humanity. The shuttle vehicles were old and falling apart; they needed to be retired. But mothballing them without a viable replacement available should be considered a crime. NASA's budget is a drop in the bucket of this government's massive spending, and the Constellation project, cancelled for being "too expensive," would have put men back on the moon for veritable pennies compared to what gets spent on idiotic wars that we have no business being in.

Let's hope the Boeing X-37 project yields results. Thinking about the fact that we're going to have to PAY other countries to get our astronauts and materiel into space makes me physically ill.

 

[Mark Flanagan]

Bye NASA, I enjoyed eating astronaut food that one time I visited Florida.

Also to bum everyone out: http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/06/air-conditioning-the-military-costs-more-than-nasas-entire-budget/

 

[aba1]

I'm gonig to take this opportunity to troll

well at least you still got all that money for your army

Silly troll, we have China's money for that.

hahahha ok that was pritty funny!

 

[Russian_Assassin]

I don't really see how that second paragraph applies, you have a troll avatar so I'm just going to pass it aside.

Would I have reached this post count if I was just some god damn troll that got lost on his way to 4chan? I just expressed my disgust at the zeitgeist, in one sentence (I do that a lot, Mr. Croshaw is partially responsible). People are really fast to dismiss others as trolls around here... Oh well, can't blame them.

Eugh, all those "losing faith in humanity" comments are old and unoriginal. It's not as if they're discontinuing NASA, they're retiring the shuttle that they've used for the last 20 years. They're expanding past low orbit exploration, leaving that area of space for private companies, and wanting to expand further.

Ok, I admit I like to exaggerate. While I didn't really lose faith, I have long since become rather cynical about everything, because the world of today doesn't really inspire optimism in me. Also I doubt there will be more grand space programs in the future, because let's face it, they are not really profitable.

The whole point of the 30 year old mission was the finish building the space station, and they've done that. Oh, but I guess they did that to control us like cattle, huh?

I don't think I like your tone, sir. This is not the time nor the thread to start a conversation on this topic, though I will say that the fact that you are not aware of the cattle-like way our societies function, means there's something wrong with either me, for not having a correct view on the matter, or you.

Anyway, I don't think this discussion deserves so much heat. For all my high and mighty "preaching" of how the system is shit and whatnot, I still realize that I'm more or less a hypocrite that sits on his fat ass (figuratively, I'm few steps away from being classified as a skeleton) doing nothing. Besides,a person or two won't change the way this man made world works.

Spoiler: Off-topic minirant

They don't have the means to go further yet, and with the country in debt, it's not as if it'll happen tomorrow, so they're in the planning phases.

Ah, the so called "debt"... It's just nonexistent money and it just pisses me off whenever I hear about it. It's more or less like me saying that all of the members here owe me a billion dollars. See? Now spend your lives paying me this money I just conjured up into existence!

I can't spend a day without hearing the word debt being thrown around, in all the languages I speak!

 

[thedeathscythe]

1. Would I have reached this post count if I was just some god damn troll that got lost on his way to 4chan?

2. Ok, I admit I like to exaggerate. While I didn't really lose faith, I have long since become rather cynical about everything, because the world of today doesn't really inspire optimism in me. Also I doubt there will be more grand space programs in the future, because let's face it, they are not really profitable.

3. I don't think I like your tone, sir. This is not the time nor the thread to start a conversation on this topic, though I will say that the fact that you are not aware of the cattle-like way our societies function, means there's something wrong with either me, for not having a correct view on the matter, or you.

Anyway, I don't think this discussion deserves so much heat. For all my high and mighty "preaching" of how the system is shit and whatnot, I still realize that I'm more or less a hypocrite that sits on his fat ass (figuratively, I'm few steps away from being classified as a skeleton) doing nothing. Besides,a person or two won't change the way this man made world works.

Spoiler: Off-topic minirant

They don't have the means to go further yet, and with the country in debt, it's not as if it'll happen tomorrow, so they're in the planning phases.

Ah, the so called "debt"... It's just nonexistent money and it just pisses me off whenever I hear about it. It's more or less like me saying that all of the members here owe me a billion dollars. See? Now spend your lives paying me this money I just conjured up into existence!

I can't spend a day without hearing the word debt being thrown around, in all the languages I speak!

1. This is true. I was mainly saying that because what you said didn't really help your argument, so I figured it was just a little trolling on the side (as opposed to being a full-time troll).

2. Oh, I'm the king of hyperbole (see what I did there?) but I just hate lately how often people say they've 'lost faith in humanity', if you had added an 'epic fail' in there somewhere, I might have flown myself to wherever you lived and made things get ugly. I'm sort of an optimist in myself and a pessimist to the rest of the world, so I can see why you'd say that. Also, yes, space programs are giant money sinks, it's not like they landed on the moon and said "Wow, that paid off, look at that profit margin!" because it's just research that doesn't really turn up much besides even more research to do.

3. We should start a thread about it so we can discuss it in the appropriate area! I know a bit about it, but all in all, I'm one of those people that says "yeah, the system is so corrupt! F**k it all, let's do something!" and then I go to bed, not exactly helping the cause I believe in.

<spoiler=also off topic>First off, I could get into how technically money doesn't exist, it's just a promise of payment that is now accepted as the form of currency, so it technically is nonexistent as it's just representative money.

Secondly, I'm not American so I don't really care too much of the debt or know any more than the next guy that did next to know research about it, so I'm sort of clueless in that regard. I get all my information from what little news stories I watch (it's not Fox so most of it is okay).

Lastly, how many languages do you know? The way you said that makes me curious and gives me the impression it is either 1 or 10, something really low or really high.