Posted 2/11/2004 09:17:00 PM by Douglas

First off to use the terms "executive" and "expert" in the same sentence is an insult to the phrase "definitely not a." But what in the hell is a Lockheed ex-chairman doing shooting his mouth off about?

Commission member Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist who is director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York, asked Augustine whether $15 billion a year for 10 years would be enough to set NASA on course to fulfill the moon-and-then-on-to-Mars vision put forth by Bush one month ago. The space agency's annual budget has been around $15 billion in recent years.

Augustine pointed out that during the next decade, NASA will still have the enormous cost of running all its centers, the space shuttle fleet and the international space station, not to mention conducting research. He said the nation traditionally has underestimated the cost of big programs.

Ok, skippy, answer me this. The Department of Defense will get $380 Billion in '04, the Department of Health and Human Services will get $491 in '04. Do you honestly think that most people are that concerned with where less than one penny of each of their tax dollar is going? Somehow, I doubt it.

OK, I just thought this article was stupid. But I had to keep reading:

Virtually everyone at the hearing supported the idea of a national space council or some other type of clearinghouse to oversee the effort, and stressed the need for strong White House support and also youth appeal.

Augustine, for one, said he is worried about NASA's graying work force. Back during the Apollo program, when NASA was sending men to the moon, the control center was filled with "a bunch of kids," he said.

"They looked like Silicon Valley did a few years ago: young, innovative, imaginative, creative people. They weren't people of my generation, for sure," the 68-year-old Augustine said, tapping his chest. "One can argue whether that's good or whether it's bad, but it sure served Apollo well."

"Youth appeal?" What the hell are they talking about? Kids haven't been inspired to explore space since Apollo? What the hell is wrong with these guys? Coming from someone in the space industry that was born after Apollo, I can say that the biggest hurdle in my way in NASA bureaucracy are these fucking grey-beards that won't fucking leave. They may quit NASA, but then get a golden parachute with a contractor so they can ride out two pensions, generally to do nothing. Lack of young people isn't the problem. If anything, it's too many hangers on from the 70s that don't have anything better to do.

The space program, and dare I say, NASA is just as American as baseball and apple pie. Actually, more so than either of the two previous examples, because no one watches baseball anymore, and everyone is on Atkins. But the Space Program is different. The Russians have their launches, the Europeans launch unmanned rockets from South America, and now China is in the game. But no one can compare to our past endevours. No one else has walked on another planet, and even low earth orbit has become a prized accomplishment lately, even among spacefaring nations.

It may not mean much in your day-to-day life (then again, it just might), but it's a mighty big feather in our national cap, and we all get to wear it, whenever we want.

I'd love to see someone show me where $15 Billion of our enormous national budget can buy something that no one else on the planet is capable of.