Quote:
Originally Posted by synaesthetic
We, as a nation, need a goal.
This goal should be space development. What happened to that country-wide spirit of coming together to put a man on Luna before the Soviets? Oh, right, because we had someone to hate.
Why is it that America is only motivated strongly by fear and/or hate?
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24 hour news cycle that needs to fill its blank airtime with whatever it can get its grubby little paws on. Hatred and fear sell.
Quote:
Originally Posted by synaesthetic
Don't say we have technological hurdles to space development. That's a flat-out lie. SpaceX has already proven that a heavy launch vehicle capable of lifting 100 tons can be built for less than a tenth what the gubment claimed it'd cost.
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We need more Neil Degrasse Tysons fighting for the importance of scientific advancement. In fact just recently I saw him saying what you are saying right now, except he said dream instead of goal. But it's the same, he was lamenting the loss of grand dreams in America, like it used to have. How it's gone from a nation that can push the frontiers of the known universe to a nation that simply doesn't dream, has no great aspirations except partisan bickering. Need more of this man.
I don't know what exactly Obama did to NASA aside from grounding any future missions(?), but I do know NASA receives such an insignificant part of the federal budget ($17bil in 2007) that even cutting it entirely doesn't make any kind of visible dent in the national debt (which shouldn't even be the top priority but that's another story). Meanwhile you have hundreds and hundreds of billions spent on the bloated military, which could easily afford to lose a few hundred billion and not feel it at all. But why make things harder for the American war machine, I guess.