• iturk

    In the Apollo days it still felt like us against the commies or at least patriotic, now it’s just about money. There are so many diversions in our lives these days. I didn’t even realize there was a launch scheduled. Back when Walter was the THE news guy, a space shot was a BIG deal.

  • jqp

    Awe and wonder how we continue to spend money on something with no real purpose other than to funnel money into NASA and it’s contractors. The space shuttle is a joke, the space station is the punch line.

  • highlandcynic


    Not to start a political flame fest, but if you compare NASAs budget to the huge ‘investment’ in Iraq (what is it now, way over a trillion and on the way to $2.4 trillion by 1012?) I’m not sure how you can complain. On the one hand you have NASA who are doing a lot of fundamental research, and on the other you have an open wound in the nation’s treasury that’s bleeding money profusely.

  • jqp


    So if I understand correctly, because money is being wasted on A it’s OK to waste money on B? What kind of logic is that? It doesn’t change the fact that both A nd B are a waste of money.

    Here’s another thought for you, both NASA and the Iraq war are on going corporate welfare programs for the military industrial complex.

  • highlandcynic


    No, that may be your logic, but that is not what I said. Don’t put words in my mouth, thank you.

    “NASA who are doing a lot of fundamental research” That doesn’t sound like a waste of money to me. Perhaps you and I differ over our definition of a waste of money?

    Fundamental research can never be described as a waste of money, nor can it be described as corporate welfare. That kind of research is the very thing that got us into the modern age.

  • jqp

    You weren’t trying to use the Iraq war to justify waste at NASA? My mistake.

    Since we’re now shifting focus to research, according to the National Science Foundation, less than a third of NASA’s 17 billion budget in 2006 went toward research. And much of that research was done by corporations, universities and other 3rd parties, not NASA.

  • highlandcynic


    No, since you stated that you felt that NASA was a big waste of money, I simply countered with the most obvious example of a waste of money, time and anything else, that I could think of.

    Regarding NASA and research. A third of their budget goes to research? Not bad, considering the scale of their operations and what they have to maintain infrastructure wise. I would be willing to say that a decent proportion of the non-research budget still goes into engineering which while it’s not blue sky research, is none the less furthering the development of technologies and methods. As for the research itself, if a lot of the research it carried out by third parties, that’s fine, so long as they are accountable. Involving universities seems like something that is perfectly proper since academic institutions are historically centers of scientific research.

    As for the involvement of corporations and other entities, putting a project out to bids, is common practice in order to make the most efficient use of resources. Some of those projects will of course be research or involve a good deal of research. However to bring all of that ‘in-house’ would escalate the costs further, and not necessarily produce the same results.

    All government functions waste money. It’s a proven fact. I worked for the civil service in the UK, believe me at the end of a budget cycle, you spend anything left in the budget before the last day. If not next years budget will be adjusted appropriately since you clearly can do more with less. So departments pad their budget and spend like crazy in the end to make sure they justify next years budget.

    NASA is of course no exception to this. However the size of the NASA budget, is relatively minor in the annual spending of the US government. I don’t see NASA itself as a waste, for the reasons I have outlined. With good oversight and management waste can be minimized, but let’s not forget, all government spending includes a degree of waste. I don’t believe that NASA is any worse than any other part of the government, and perhaps better because it is under closer scrutiny these days.

    Again though, NASA itself, it’s purpose and the work it does is not a waste of time or tax payers money. I think that trying to argue otherwise is an uphill struggle.

  • Mortron


    The greatest driving force for life is survival of the species.
    Denial of the former sentence is symptomatic of insanity.
    If we stay forever on this one planet mankind will perish……………….Do the Maths!

    My thanks to all those brave explorers who risk life and limb so that I may prosper, I salute you.