Comments on: Science Friday: Boxing Day Edition

By: El Rushborg

El Rushborg — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:32:26 +0000

Man, I’ll tell ya–

O’l Barry IS NO TREKKIE–DESPITE his retoric.

NO self-respecting member of the Order Of The Brethren (lol) would even THINK of cutting NASA’s budget.

If anything, BUSH is the Trekkie–NOT OBAMA!!!

By: Greenacresusa

Greenacresusa — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 11:02:39 +0000

If Obama wants to fund NASA’s programs, give some of that money that was raised for his way over board champain!!! Almost 3/4 of a billion dollars!! Now that is waste!!! Have Oprah have a fund raiser for something really important!! Manned Space Flight!! We lost the moon back in the 70’s because of politics and maybe again. We’re 40 years behind now because of that!! If we don’t go to the moon now, China, Russia and others will! We’ll be left behind in the dirt!

By: McCoy's Gall Bladder

McCoy's Gall Bladder — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 07:32:43 +0000

Yep we need space planes not shuttles

Obama cant undermine everything. The people voted for “hope” not results, so let them have it for 4 years.

Space will happen because it has to. Watch the History Channel series on The Universe.

Sadly most Americans are decadent and more concerned with Brad & Angelina and Brittany and Lindsay than the survival of this or any species.

Bob O how about making a movie that would convince people to stop going to movies and do something beneficial for all mankind?

Oh, yeah, right…

Remember how the real Dr Suess wrote the Grinch to protest the commercialization of Christmas, but just after he died, his widow greenlit a movie rife with tie ins and merchandise and what nots? And the moral of the story was thrown away for toys that have since been thrown away?

Nope.

America needs change, but how do you turn off MTV?

By: KMKProd

KMKProd — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 06:52:47 +0000

NASA’s budget is actually closer to .6% of the total annual US budget. The Ares 5 as a heavy lifter for what we need to go to the moon isn’t a bad design… mostly a modified Space Shuttle withouth the Orbiter attacched, but a large container for the upper stage. We need more power thant the Delta V – Heavy for lunar missions in order to make it to the moon (250,000 miles away). It is the Ares 1 which is the unknown here… a little too risky for me. SRBs are not the most smooth ride because they are solid fueled. They are however efficient for first stage engines, and reusable for up to 20 times if maintained properly.

Obama first said to scrap NASA for 5 years and give the money to education. Then he realized he needed Florida to win, as well as Texas and a few other places. Then NASA became his friend. I don’t believe he is going to do good by the space program and you can be the Chinese are going to get a lunar base before we get there again at the rate things are going. You can also say goodbye to the Interntational Space Station, and say hello to Mir 2, the Russian Space Station, with the retirement of the Shuttle program.

By: Captain Dunsel

Captain Dunsel — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 20:14:56 +0000

#14 – I looked up some entries on the Likouala swamp, and here’s one thing I found (among the various references to Mkele-mbembe)

“The forbidding Likouala swamp region, located in the northern part of the Congo, is about the size of the state of Arkansas”

So, maybe we should just be looking for dinosaurs in Arkansas? Save the trip?

By: Captain Dunsel

Captain Dunsel — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 20:10:09 +0000

12 – “Have them do what NASCAR dose, corporate sponsors.”

Ever read Asimov’s short story, “Buy Jupiter”?

By: pafan

pafan — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 16:24:32 +0000

Mr. Obama said very little in his campaign about , well………anything. Who knows what he wants to accomplish and how he will do it? (And don’t forget, we don’t elect kings in this country. There is a pesky branch of the government called Congress that has the real power)
Human spaceflight will continues one way or the other. It is not that expensive in government terms. The current NASA budget represents only about O.6% of federal outlays. You can argue that the Constellation program is not the best way to explore space, but I am not worried about human spaceflight going away. The private sector is also working on it. It is here to stay.

By: braxus

braxus — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 14:45:18 +0000

DJT- Obama is wanting to kill that dream. He doesn’t think manned space flight is important.

By: DJT

DJT — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 10:56:52 +0000

It’s friggin’ 2009 in a few days and I am curious.

When are we going to explore space in a dedicated manner?

Not just with rovers or satellites, but with manned missions.

I remember growing up as a little kid watching the first shuttle launches, dreaming of space flight. I always figured that by the time I got to be an adult we’d have some sort of futuristic Space Program, like those often seen on the cover of Scientific American.

Heck, I’d settle for seeing the next generation of shuttles take flight, like the X-33.

What’s happened to the DREAM, the PROMISE of reaching out into space with our own two feet.

By: Robert Bernardo

Robert Bernardo — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 09:05:33 +0000

I say that Mount Mabu in southern Africa is the mysterious Escarpment in the Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan movies. :-)