Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Tell Me They're Not Finished

The "me too" crowd:

NASA has signed a deal worth 306 million dollars with the Russians for six rides to the ISS in 2012 and 2013, or a charge of 51 million dollars per US astronaut.

Good grief... 51 million dollars per ride. And now Russia says it wants more money.

I'm almost too embarrassed to admit that - at one time - I actually supported these college educated idiots at NASA, the ones that have destroyed our space program so completely that we see stories like the one above.

My God... Paying 51 million dollars so an American astronaut can "Visit" the space station we made possible. For damned certain, there would be no space station without us.

Crap, crap and more crap. The Russians are using the same old boosters they have for decades. Why didn't we build another couple of shuttles? That would have at least let us visit our space station on our own terms.

Crista and the unintended consequences... They are massive. And incredibly destructive.

There's just not enough rope to make this right.

2 comments:

TheWayfarer said...

I don't think the original Apollo mission cost 51 million clams!
Not enough rope? I could SURE have fun trying to find out.
Shooting's quicker and more merciful than politicians and bureaucrats deserve!

Bob said...

The entire Apollo project throughout its life cost a bit over 24 billion dollars. Each actual Apollo mission cost around 350 million dollars.

That 24 billion paid for over 100,000 American jobs in over twenty states for over ten years. It paid for the entire project, all the stuff at Canaveral plus the totally unneeded mission control center at Houston, and put us on the moon several times. It provided research that made the microchip a reality, and made multiple technical breakthroughs that made today's hi-tech toys possible.

Obama could easily duplicate the accomplishments of the Apollo project simply by authorizing - and funding - the development of the "space plane" and the Mars missions, provide 100,000 jobs for another ten years... For just a small fraction of the stimulus money he has wasted so far.

Of course, the present unfocused mindset at NASA would have to be replaced if we were to expect something other than flowery speeches and pretty graphics.