to those who say the space program is too expensive:

[rivendellrose]

Just heard Neil deGrasse Tyson say on NPR that we spend 4/10ths of 1 percent of our national spending on NASA. All told. 4/10ths of a SINGLE PERCENT.

And we're ending our shuttle program WHY? For god's sake, get us back out there, government! GO. NOW. Start doing new things like we used to do back in the 70s and 80s. Go to the Moon again. Go to Mars, please - go to asteroids, go somewhere! Please!

It's a very, very bad thing for me to be hormonal at the same time that we're basically decommissioning the American space program. I keep getting teared up whenever this comes up.

Comments

[diea.livejournal.com]

Is the shuttle program the whole space program? This is what I thought, but my husband said it isn't. Are they still going to be working on other options for exploring space? Doing research and development stuff? Or is it just over? Because that really would be sad. There seems to be so much more that we could do.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

It's not really our whole space program, but until the non-government contractors who've been given grants to come up with a replacement for the shuttles come through, we'll be renting space on Russian flights in order to get anything - from a tiny little scientific experiment to people to man the space station - up into space. We won't have our own wheels. So basically we can still do research, but it'll cost an arm and a leg (more than usual), and we'll be restricted to small stuff. It's shit.

[hoperomantic.livejournal.com]

I don't even have the benefit of being hormonal to blame my tearfulness on in this case. *sigh*

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

It's pretty much a sucky situation. *Hugs*

[parhelion-spark.livejournal.com]

It really is amazing to me that the technology, the potential, doesn't mean more to people. I know cuts are needed, but there are about a million better places to aim them.
Presuming that's what this is due to, anyway, since NGL this is the first I've heard of it, and thus I know fuckall.
WAHOO isolationisms!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I know cuts are needed, but there are about a million better places to aim them.

Exactly. I don't know a ton about it, and I get the impression that these shuttles needed to be decommissioned anyway, but the idea of putting them away out of service and ending the program before we have something to replace it just hits me in the gut.

[parhelion-spark.livejournal.com]

It is incredibly disappointing. This is after all, the only area of technology/science where absolutely EVERYTHING is a new discovery to be made, to be understood.
As a culture, we lack curiosity, and it's beginning to show, I suppose.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

Have you read this interview? There are some good reasons why the shuttle's being retired, and plans for things to replace it.

I was honestly hoping you might be ranting about the lack of appreciation--likely due to the lack of education--for the things that the space program has made possible in daily life on earth. Things like CCDs and memory foam that we take for granted. There's a LOT of stuff like that, as I discovered when I did some research the weekend of the Columbia disaster so I could educate my Technology and Society kids the following Monday, and nobody knows about it. No wonder people get away with saying that the space program is a waste of money. If they knew where their Tempur-Pedic really came from, they might not be so quick to judge.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Believe me, I'm happy to talk about the technological advances that we see here and now in daily life that are based on the work NASA has done, and if I was talking to people I really felt I had to convince of its utility, I'd focus on that. Talking with friends who I think can probably figure out the technological implications on their own, I'd rather talk about the implications to the human spirit. The technological stuff is interesting, of course, but I don't mourn the defunding of the program because I want new mattresses - I mourn it because I think it's the best and most important thing that people can do, going out to explore the universe and trying to push our boundaries.

On a more pragmatic level, as well, I think at least for those of us in the US it's extremely important to recall the unifying effect the space program had on national consciousness. We could certainly use something we're all behind right now - preferably something non-destructive and enlightening.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

I don't disagree with you, but the biggest gripe I hear from clueless people is that the space program is a "huge waste of money." Well, yeah, it costs a lot--but when you discover that it can help us create better antidotes to things like salmonella or that without it we would not have LEDs or digital cameras or my personal favorite, the funky little beeswax pellets that can absorb 20x their weight in spilled oil and then biodegrade completely (which came in kinda handy a year ago!), it becomes a lot harder to claim that the money's wasted. And while it might be nice to think that a lot of people know about that stuff already, the simple fact is that a very large part of the population has no clue--which is why they make the idiotic comments in the first place.

While the idea of what space does for the human spirit is great, and having something to unite behind would be nice, it's not the 50s anymore, we're not scared by Sputnik, and I think the days of this country behind united behind anything are long behind us and aren't coming back any time soon. I wish it weren't so, but I suspect it is. And I do wonder if some of the magic of the actual space program has been usurped by our ability to walk into a movie theater and "see" things that greatly surpass reality on a regular basis.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Which was why I made the point about the percent of the national budget being spent on NASA. For god's sake, it's a tiny amount. I don't disagree that people like nifty new toys and inventions, but they still picture NASA getting something stupid like 20% of national funding, which is absolutely wrong.

And I do wonder if some of the magic of the actual space program has been usurped by our ability to walk into a movie theater and "see" things that greatly surpass reality on a regular basis.

I see what you're saying, but anybody who can't tell the difference between the undeniable beauty of something on a movie screen and the real beauty of something actually being done is probably a lost cause anyway. If people can't see that things happening in real life are better than the movies, we've lost and we might as well give up. The only thing that will push past that is doing amazing things in real life, and educating people about those things so that they can genuinely understand them, not sitting back and saying "but it got you a cool mattress."

[alto2.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, in a lot of people's eyes, "doing something amazing" that doesn't have a direct benefit they see in their lives = huge waste of money. You and I may not want it to be so, but it is. It's sort of like public media funding, which gets $1/citizen, which is apparently far too great an expenditure for people who don't want to watch PBS or think NPR is a liberal shill. It's about perception, not reality, and until you change the perception, you're just shouting into the wind.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

And I've already agreed with you that when speaking to those people, the technology is what I would emphasize. I'm really not sure why you're arguing with me, here.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

I'm not really sure why you think I am, because I'm not. I'm just pointing out that more people than you seemed to indicate in your original comment fall into that category.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

There are indeed a great many clueless people in the world. As far as I know, they don't read my journal. When I'm here, I'm talking to friends. I'm sorry that I misread your tone, but I really don't feel the need to include every possible angle in a quick post intended for friends.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry. Your title led me to believe you were speaking generally, not only to/of people who might read your journal. My mistake.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Eh, I'm just stressed and irritable right now, more than anything else. Not your fault.