"Jack" wrote in message
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On Apr 20, 1:48 pm, "nom=de=plume" wrote:
"Jack" wrote in message

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On Apr 17, 9:04 pm, "mmc" wrote:





Odd, how the government is basically dumping NASA saying private
industry
can do it better and cheaper. But government can do healthcare better
and
cheaper. Just seems odd.

All NASA does these days is administer contracts. The current shuttle
design
has been in service for damn near 30 years with a planned lifespan
something
like 20 years and a goal of a low cost delivery system to near earth
orbit.
It has proven to be the most expensive delivery system available and is
more
sensitive than a teenage girl. And more dangerous. NASA has had 30 years
to
come up with a replacement and has fallen on it's collective ass.
A good friend and former Air Force Commander once told me that "the
current
NASA generation couldn't put a man on the moon to save thier lives and
we're
spending $4 billion a year (mid 90s, 8 launches @ $500 million per) to
light
fires in an oxygen rich environment and watch rats f*ck".
Check out a crew list. Aside from the pilots, you'll see a gaggle of
people
who have no friggin clue as to what they're supposed to be doing up
there,
that's why they go thru so much training. If you really wanted to get
the
job done, NASA would send Navy mud divers instead of engineers and
school
teachers. Divers already know how to work in a weightless environment,
they
know life support systems and how to work with tools
NASA, like FEMA have become stagnent social programs that cannot perform
thier missions. Flush them and start over.

You're wrong on so many levels. Case in point: I get a Tech Brief
industry rag that outlines the many science advances and breakthroughs
that come from the NASA Jet Propulsion Labs and other NASA research
facilities every couple of months. These are the same people that
brought us semiconductors, IC's, and so many other technology advances
that it's not easily comprehended by most. Shut them down?

Of course your Air Force friend will run down NASA... he'll do the
same to other branches of the military besides the AF and anyone else
he's been brainwashed into thinking isn't as good as the AF. It's in
the training... if it's not AF, it's crap. He isn't really holding up
the AF as the model of effiency, is he? And what the hell would Navy
divers do up there? I guess they can take the space walks and perform
maintenance, while the rest do the *research* that the divers sure
can't handle.

But now you want to shoot that whole NASA industry in the head and let
Rutan and others do it? They'll only do what make commercial sense
for them, and the research part will stagnate. Not good for America.

Flying into space on Russian craft while we take down the US flag at
*relief* efforts in Haiti? Are you freakin kidding me? Obama and
company have lost their minds.


Naw, the friend I spoke of has nothing to do with CCAFS or space and never
was in any sort of competition with the civilian space program.
The divers would be for doing manual labor in a weightless environment.
Anyone who hasn't done this sort of work would have no idea of what it is
like. Training tourists to fumble through it is stupid unless it's all for
politics and propoganda.
Where the hell is the replacement for the STS? If a prototype had been under
construction, there would be much better chances of the STS extended (again)
until it's online. But the new version isn't close to being a reality.
Because it doesn't exist.
It's like living in a hotel until the house is built but never working on
the house.
I'm not slamming the entire, historical friggin space program, I'm saying
that the current NASA is as screwed up, lazy and irresponsible as the rest
of the government agencies. They all should be put under microscopes and
evaluated for how they are performing thier missions. The managers who
aren't performing as they should put on probation for a period to give them
a chance to get thier house in order, and fired if they don't. There are a
lot of private industry practices that would do the government good if they
were adopted.
One of the old time private industry practices that could be instituted
would be to account for how and on what the income (taxes) are being spent.
I'm a taxpayer and want to know where my GD money is going.
And we're already hitchin rides on Russian spacecraft.