Rocket Scientists
Ok, so I know I'm not the most humble person in the world, nor am I the least outspoken. The reason this "T's me off" is the heedless lack of any real information or facts in the conversations.
So with the recent landing of the shuttle and the watching of Fox News during our break time, some angry old men at Cedarville started ranting about NASA. First they talked about the shuttle and how it is outdated. "Why don't they just get rid of it!" or "I can't believe they aren't using a new one." This conversation quickly turns into a bashing of NASA's fallacious use of their "unlimited" budget. "You know they just get whatever money they want...I can't believe they waste all that money just to fly up and down to the space station." I really couldn't believe my ears.
First of all, NASA is of course in trouble with it's outdated (and yes, expensive) shuttle program. The problem is that it doesn't have a replacement. It really doesn't even have one lined up yet as there are no viable replacements yet. So expecting NASA to just "put the new one up there" is simply a dumb statement. Secondly, the reason they don't have a replacement is because they are actually on quite a shoe string of a budget. In 2004 their budget was $15,470 million. This may sound like a lot, but with the president calling for moon bases and Mars missions (they never got all the money they were supposed to), their allotted (that's right...Allotted, not desired) budget is barely enough to keep going with only $959 million to study new space crafts (not much in the experimental aeronautics industry).
I guess I'm saying all this because I find it annoying that just because some guys watch Fox News they think they know everything. I am known to rant on about technology, but I do try to stay up on actual information. And when I don't know about a topic, I shut my mouth...most of the time anyway. So just to set the record straight, NASA has a tight budget and is doing an amazing job with the money they have...just not as good as Burt Rutan.
(props to the "It Takes A Rocket Scientist" article in the February 2003 issue of Popular Science)
So with the recent landing of the shuttle and the watching of Fox News during our break time, some angry old men at Cedarville started ranting about NASA. First they talked about the shuttle and how it is outdated. "Why don't they just get rid of it!" or "I can't believe they aren't using a new one." This conversation quickly turns into a bashing of NASA's fallacious use of their "unlimited" budget. "You know they just get whatever money they want...I can't believe they waste all that money just to fly up and down to the space station." I really couldn't believe my ears.
First of all, NASA is of course in trouble with it's outdated (and yes, expensive) shuttle program. The problem is that it doesn't have a replacement. It really doesn't even have one lined up yet as there are no viable replacements yet. So expecting NASA to just "put the new one up there" is simply a dumb statement. Secondly, the reason they don't have a replacement is because they are actually on quite a shoe string of a budget. In 2004 their budget was $15,470 million. This may sound like a lot, but with the president calling for moon bases and Mars missions (they never got all the money they were supposed to), their allotted (that's right...Allotted, not desired) budget is barely enough to keep going with only $959 million to study new space crafts (not much in the experimental aeronautics industry).
I guess I'm saying all this because I find it annoying that just because some guys watch Fox News they think they know everything. I am known to rant on about technology, but I do try to stay up on actual information. And when I don't know about a topic, I shut my mouth...most of the time anyway. So just to set the record straight, NASA has a tight budget and is doing an amazing job with the money they have...just not as good as Burt Rutan.
(props to the "It Takes A Rocket Scientist" article in the February 2003 issue of Popular Science)
posted by prozaciswack at
12:44 PM
3 Comments:
I am very informed now... Thank you for that interesting information
By
Kay-luh, at 11/8/05 11:59 PM
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By
Anonymous, at 12/8/05 7:18 PM
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hia/26194339/
the one on the left. that's the one i can't remember the name of. please help! it's bugging the crap out of me. haha.
-kim
By
Anonymous, at 14/8/05 11:01 AM
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