Posted
9/29/2008 05:29:00 PM
by Douglas
No, baby, it's not you. It's me. And it's not just because we're going $700 Billion in the hole to plug the hole in our hemorrhaging economy. Either way, we can't fund your cute little fire crackers
anymore.The signs of a midlife crisis are there: A 50th birthday approaching; a longing for the glory days of youth; a hankering to dump the aging partner of 27 years; and a costly flirtation with a new young thing.
This isn't some balding businessman in a sports car. It's NASA.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which opened its doors on Oct. 1 1958, is struggling with its identity and its future. The agency's angst is Velcroed to the vehicle that NASA has been married to for more than half its life and is seeking to dump — the space shuttle.
Well are we going to go, or aren't we. Time for country to decide. The population has overwhelmingly rejected the
bailout, yet there's still popular support for the manned spaceflight program. Even so, NASA is low hanging fruit for the budget ax, and that's painfully obvious.