ST Alpha - "I wonder why the fiscal sanity questions go out the window when we're talking exploration of space." (Reading a Post)

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In response to "LIR: ty97. My biggest concern is relying on other governments for access to space. What if, heaven forbid, something goes wrong with our GPS" by oblique

I wonder why the fiscal sanity questions go out the window when we're talking exploration of space.

Posted by Will Hunting (aka JoeMetz) Apr 14 '10, 08:42

we can't help the sick or help put people to work, but we can spend billions on a rocket to Mars.

Responses:

I can point to any project the government spends money on and say that some other thing deserves the money more - oblique Apr 14, 08:45 15
- Someday leaving Earth ranks about 500th on the list of issues facing Americans - Will Hunting Apr 14, 08:46 14
  - Until that asteriod comes a calling. It is a super-long-term project but one that we cannot abandon for short-term reasons -- nm - oblique Apr 14, 08:48 9
    - You're using a 1990s Bruce Willis / Ben Affleck movie as your basis for government spending. - ty97 Apr 14, 08:50 8
      - I'm just saying that there are many reasons why we need to have an active space program and some of them are inevitabilities -- nm - oblique Apr 14, 08:52 7
        
        No one is cutting NASA. -- nm - ty97 Apr 14, 08:53 6
        
        But they are dropping our ability to get into orbit independently for the next X years (maybe 10?). That's a major problem -- nm - oblique Apr 14, 08:55 5
        
        Thing is, even if funding for Constellation wasn't cut. Since Constellation was behind schedule, nothing is different in those 10 years. - musubi Apr 14, 08:59
        
        To get people into orbit. There are all sorts of launches in the US to get satellites and other payloads into orbit -- nm - Roger More Apr 14, 08:58
        
        I'm wondering what percentage of Americans would rate that as a bigger problem than unemployment, healthcare and gas prices. - Jim Apr 14, 08:58 1
        
        No one is saying it is a bigger problem. The government can multitask (supposedly) and in those terms, I've got a ton of other programs we should cut - oblique Apr 14, 08:59
        
        Yeah, guess they realized there's more important things than mice screwing in zero-gravity. -- nm - Will Hunting Apr 14, 08:56
  - I appreciate that Obama appears to be taking a pragmatic approach to Space Travel, while not abonaning NASA completely. - musubi Apr 14, 08:48 1
    - Yup. -- nm - Krusty Apr 14, 08:58
  - either way? Outsourcing (which is basically what we're doing) to the Russians isnt the answer though. -- nm - Jovian Apr 14, 08:48 1
    - No, we should outsource to US businesses. - Will Hunting Apr 14, 08:50
Or for military spending. - musubi Apr 14, 08:43 5
- Ding! If we wanted to get serious we'd take real hard looks at the military. I'd be happy cutting it in half or more. -- nm - Don Homer Apr 14, 08:45 3
  - I'd like to point out that I am not advocating cutting military spending, but it annoys me that it's considered such a sacred cow. - musubi Apr 14, 08:47 2
    - [deleted]
    - Word. -- nm - znufrii Apr 14, 08:47
- What I like is that cutting military spending is more popular than, say, cutting Medicare or Social Security -- nm - Roger More Apr 14, 08:44

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I wonder why the fiscal sanity questions go out the window when we're talking exploration of space.

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