It sucks, but no one cares about exploring space anymore. After the collapse of the USSR it seemed that since there was no race there was no point in running... I guess Bush would rather spend a few dozen billion on invading a country than bettering the knowledge of mankind with exploration.

There is going to be a new space race going on soon. I am guessing that this isn't just an issue of him try to get votes. I am willing to bet since the Chinese are finally taking things seriously, want to setup mining colonies on the moon and send men to mars that we will finally get off our ass since there is some competition again.

NASA was created for one reason and one reason only- to counter the propaganda value of the Soviet program. The Cold War is over- we won.

NASA went from an organization full of young scientists to being just another bloated, inefficient, quasi-governmental bureaucrasy. Fuck NASA- I say cut their funding 100%. Open up the process to bidding and let the market decide who will launch satellites and explore space. End the NASA monopoly; they've outgrown their usefullness and don't deserve the 15.5 billion dollar budget they currently enjoy.

Uhm could it possibly be that the reason he didn't get to the space program before noww as he was FUCKING BUSY WITH TERRORISTS?

As an aside, wonder what will happen when the folks in China try to drill onthe moon which is owned by that fuckhead that decided to stake a claim to all the heavenly bodies and is selling off plots by the acre.

I want a piece of Neptune (or is ir Uranus) which supposedly rains diamonds. :eyemouth:

Different budget, different money. He dismantled the future of the space program early in his presidency, before 9/11. The next shuttle was over budget, and should have either been canceled or forced into using different technology, but if it was canceled, a new design should have been put together to be built. So it was canceled, and no new ship was ever designed. So now, after another shuttle disaster, using technology from the 70s (The shuttle fleet was designed to last 15 years, upgraded to push the technology to 25 years, now the second mark is rapidly approaching) we have no plans to update our technology. This is the first sign of it, and again, as I said, this is not a "We will conquer space and and do something productive" approach, but the old standard "in another decade or so, maybe we will have something moving". No progress is going to be done this way, and I agree NASA should open up the realm of space to private companies to jumpstart the technology. I am also well aware he had bigger priorities, but its the approach he is taking, that is aggravating me.

The Space Shuttle was / is a dismal failure. The the idea that a reusable craft would be a cheaper way to deliver a payload has been shown to be wrong; the shuttle is the most expensive way of launching a payload there is.

Fuck the shuttle and it's replacement. We need to let the industry find ways of carrying a payload that are more efficient, not less efficient as is the case with the shuttle, and as likely would be the case with it's replacement.

The shuttle does not carry commercial payload, and was not meant to. Commercial payloads were always carried out by rockets. Occasionally, a governement payload was launched by the shuttle, or retrieved, but only as a byproduct. The shuttle was a bastard version of its original design in order to appease congress and the public. And has been a problem since put into orbit. But its sucessor is not about putting payloads into space, its about putting man into space. The designs used for the X-prize best illustrate this, the new crafts being mentioned now would be 2 teirs. A multistaged rocket for payload delilvery, and a resuable craft for delivering people. The reason there is such a fight to keep the shuttle is they do not want to give up a human space presence in the US. Like it or not, the shuttle is the only craft the US has to deliever humans into space. Unless they could dig up an old capsule....

As for the payloads, this report covers the different costs for delivering a payload per rocket.
[link]

notice the Shuttle costs much more per pound, but currently is the only way to effectively repair inorbit satelites and larger cargos. And it is not commercially available, of course.

Shut up. You don't know what you're talking about. NASA is the reason for many advancements.

But I'm sure you'd rather spend a couple dozen billion MORE on a "War on Terrorism".

NASA's greatest advancements lately have been in wasting money. They have a 15.5 billion dollar annual budget, and yet some people still want to spend billions more on new "gee whiz" toys of dubious value. Can YOU tell me what earth-shattering advancement we got in return for our 15.5 billion investment last year, Junior? I sure as hell can't.

I'd rather the "couple dozen billion" stayed in the hands of those who actually earned it- namely the taxpayers. When you start spending $25,000 / year on taxes maybe you'll feel differently than you do now. Until then, perhapsyou should STFU, Junior- come back when it's YOUR money they're wasting.

There have been much advancements in magnetic energies all over the world, the greatest expense is getting a payload to break the forces of gravity...

A ramp created by electro-magnetic to hurl the payload to mach 7 then fire booster rockets will get payloads into space much cheaper.

This option has always been avaliable, but Bush is not too concerned about the space program, he would rather focus on the blood for oil program.

LA was asking for 4 billion to fund their magnetic rail program, which was shut down...

New technologies will definately be much more cleaner and efficient, but the initial spending of USEFUL $$$ is something that an ignorant leader like Bush can not actually do.

NASA scientists created aerogel which will revolutionise insulation materials as well as things that need to be light but exceptionally strong. It is being used on the rovers in Mars. For more info - go here: [link]

Just watch, you'll end up spending all this money on the trip to mars, only to find out there is no mars after all.

It could happen....

Well, no, but it's a funny thought.

yea im doin pros//cons n stuff n yah waste money on space for wut??? really we should like use to donate n crap like that

The successor to the Shuttle was killed off in the early to mid '90s... if not back when the first white elephant was being whelped.
S'what happens when you let politically driven folks run a program like this. They're chasing votes, not dreams. (well, they dream of votes)

It's 13.5 billion you fucking retard, get the budget right and your facts right before you rant about bullshit you don't know fuck about.