One cheer for the President's space plan

>
> > Quick take on Bush's space initiative -- Evaluating a space
proposal,
> > we should look for vision, timetable, and funding. On this basis,
I
> > can say, "One cheer for the President's space plan."
> >
> > The goals and ambitions are laudable, leading to one cheer. The
> > timetable is a joke, and the funding is a joke.
>
> Ambitions are modest, which is good. Modest ambitions are easier to
> achieve. Any fool can say "let's go to Mars", but the project has
to
> survive changes of administration, changes in Congress, changes in
the
> economy and national priorities. Apollo survived *ONLY* because it
was
> a proxy for war with the Commies. Space enthusiasts need to get
over
> Apollo - it was an anomaly and it is never coming back. Attainable
> goals will be attained. Pie in the sky fantasies will remain
> fantasies. The timetable reflects reality, and the funding is
adequate
> to the task (large amounts of funding will be freed up as ISS nears
> completion, and diverted to CEV).

The pro-space exporation movement been a 40 year old hangover, I say.

> > This plan could touch off a space race, and in that case, the
plan is
> > one of how to lose a space race.
>
> There is ZERO chance of a space race. There is no cold war. It
was a
> historical anomaly. It's not coming back, and that's good - the
cold
> war caused enormous suffering.

Look, if space colonization occured during the Cold War, then the
space colonies would simply be a new front agianst the
Americans/Soviets. The USSR would have used such a program for
propangada which could have delayed the fall of communism. In fact,
space colonization could have sparked a hot war between the USSR and
USA, thus elemating one of the advantages of space colonization (long
term human surval)

> > (A serious version of this plan would say, "Mars by 2020. NASA
gets an
> > immediate 60% raise in funding, with two more raises in 2010 and
> > 2015.")
>
> This plan would die the instant a new president was elected,
probably
> sooner, at the first congressional election. More money pissed
down
> the drain in search of unrealistic fantasies. If we'd followed the
> Bush II plan after Apollo (and this plan *is* the logical follow on
to
> Apollo) we'd have a moonbase by now and probably flags and
footprints
> on Mars, with realistic plans for a Mars base. As is, everyone
wants a
> full court press for their pet project, so we get overambitious
plans
> that are politically unviable. This plan is politically viable,
and
> that is reason enough to support it. We've wasted 30 years on
fantasy.
> Let's do some real exploration, which means slow, careful, steady
> progress, not revolutionary programs designed to show our
superiority
> over the commies.

Agreed. Like an opinion on Space Daily said: "The space race was a
sprint. This has to be a marthon." And beside exporing, there should
be advances in technology as well.

> > The President, while getting deserved credit for vision, should
fix
> > the timetable and funding in his plan. Absent that, we might
conclude
> > that the first human on Mars will be Chinese or Russian. Under
this
> > plan, they could beat us to Mars with 15 years to spare!
>
> Good for them. Of course, there's exactly zero chance that they'll
go
> to Mars, because they don't have an exploration for exploration's
sake
> culture (either one). The only reason the Soviets ever went into
space
> in the first place was propaganda, and the only reason we went to
the
> moon was to rain on their parade. The side benefits were nice, but
> there's a reason that of the 12 people who walked on the moon, only
one
> was a scientist.

I am not sure about Russia, because they did sent exporers to
Siberia/Alaska.

> This is the first thing to come out of the Bush White House that I
> support 100%. Excellent job.

Almost redeams it in your eyes, don't it.