Houston, we have a problem...

[razark]

Originally Posted by Platapus

You are making two faulty assumptions.

Alright, I'll give you that. Most of that was my general anti-anti-space program rant.

Originally Posted by Platapus

1. Canceling manned space programs does not mean canceling all programs. The unmanned programs still need workers.

If we aren't going to space, why bother sending the robotic missions? I'm not planning on taking a trip to New Jersey any time soon, so why should I bother studying maps and reading travel information? Aside from that, under the current plan, NASA gets an increased budget. If there are programs that need workers, why are so many people either getting laid off, or living in fear of it?

Originally Posted by Platapus

When we get on firmer economic ground, then to infinity and beyond. Until then, let's pay our bills first. Space can wait.

You know what we haven't done for 38 years? We haven't gone beyond low Earth Orbit. There were a total of nine spaceflights beyond Earth. We went, we put down flags and footprints, we came back home, and we've done nothing else. How long are we going to wait? There's always "something else" that needs to be done before we can go explore. Now it's the economy. What will it be in two years? In ten years? In another thirty-eight years? You think our bills will be any more paid by then?

Imagine if Columbus had made his four trips to the Americas, and then Spain decided, "Well, we've been there, we've done that, we have other things to do", and never exploited the possibilities. Right now, we're cutting back on the human space flight. How long until someone decides that since we aren't sending people, we don't need to send robots? Or mapping missions? Since we don't have to worry about sending people for a while, we can cut spending by cutting these useless programs, too. I mean, we can always find ways to spend the money here. Was there nothing else we could have been doing in the 60s? Were there no other problems or wars that we should have been dealing with, instead of wasting our money in pissing contest with the Russians? We went to the moon and got nothing for it, except a few rocks and a few pictures.