"mmc" wrote in message
g.com...

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.

FEMA does just fine when properly administered.

NASA does just fine for somethings, but they've lost a lot of their edge.

--
Nom=de=Plume