What has NASA done for you?

Dang,
I hate being the odd man out here, but when I was a boy I watched Neil
Armstrong take the first step on the moon. I was absolutely hooked on
anything that flew in the sky or space since. So I guess because of NASA I
became a fan of aviation, a structural mech, now a student sport pilot.
Because it affected my life it has also touched my son and he has a good
interest in aviation.
Yes NASA needs to do something! They need to spend money wisely..which
seems impossible for any government agency. And most important they need to
do something "FANTASTIC" ...after all there may be another young boy
watching........

Patrick
student SPL
aircraft structural mech

..

"George Patterson" wrote in message
news:vSVIe.563$rY.171@trndny03...

The lie was that his mouth connected him to it. He never claimed to have
had anything to do with it other than voting for the original
appropriation.


Actually, he claimed quite a bit more than that:

"During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in
creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range
of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic
growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational
system."

Al Gore, on CNN's "Late Edition" program March 9th, 1999.

"frankie" wrote in message
oups.com...
BobGoFish wrote:

There is controversy as to whether or not space exploration is worthy of
federal (tax payer) funding....

As taxpayers, we should always hold government accountable for our
money. NASA has indeed contributed much to our nation's knowledge base.

True in the past but doubtful much of value has been produced recently.

In article ,
"Dave Stadt" wrote:

"frankie" wrote in message
oups.com...
BobGoFish wrote:

There is controversy as to whether or not space exploration is worthy of
federal (tax payer) funding....

As taxpayers, we should always hold government accountable for our
money. NASA has indeed contributed much to our nation's knowledge base.

True in the past but doubtful much of value has been produced recently.

I think it's important to separate the manned and unmanned programs.
Certainly the manned program hasn't produced anything of value in 20-30
years, but the unmanned program (which is a tiny fraction of NASA's
budget) has produced and continues to produce a lot of new scientific
knowledge. Whether that knowledge has value is a different question,
but I think one should not throw out the robotic baby with the manned
bath water (if we should be so lucky).

rg

If you think the spin-off advances NASA has generated are important,
you might want to consider what might have been accomplished with the
money had it been devoted towards those kinds of advances directly.
NASA more than anything is pork barrel politics and a government jobs
program. Going to Mars contributes much less to our quality of life
than would investing the same money in say alternative energy sources.

Recently, Tony posted:

If you think the spin-off advances NASA has generated are important,
you might want to consider what might have been accomplished with the
money had it been devoted towards those kinds of advances directly.
NASA more than anything is pork barrel politics and a government jobs
program. Going to Mars contributes much less to our quality of life
than would investing the same money in say alternative energy sources.

So, what's wrong with a "both/and" approach?

The problem that I have with these kinds of discussion is that it presumes
that our other expenditures -- many of which far outstrip the NASA
budget -- have more worthwhile returns. What has been the return for our
enormous investment in the "War On Drugs" and its appendages? What is the
return for this incredible fiasco of a "War On Terror"? Indeed, the world
would be better off if those monies were spent investing in positive
activities, and at least I would include NASA among those.

Regards,

Neil

In article ,
"W P Dixon" wrote:

Dang,
I hate being the odd man out here, but ...

You aren't alone. But there isn't much point engaging in
a discussion of the merits of space flight (manned and unmanned)
with closed-minded people.

--
Bob Noel
no one likes an educated mule

On Sat, 06 Aug 2005 10:33:10 GMT, "Neil Gould"
wrote in
::

What has been the return for our
enormous investment in the "War On Drugs" and its appendages? What is the
return for this incredible fiasco of a "War On Terror"?

Why, further progress toward a police state, or course. :-)

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote:
The lie was that his mouth connected him to it. He never claimed to
have
had anything to do with it other than voting for the original
appropriation.


Actually, he claimed quite a bit more than that:

"During my service in the United States Congress, I took the
initiative in
creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole
range
of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's
economic
growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational
system."

Yes, but what one typically heard from political commentators was that
"Gore claimed he invented the internet," a lie that is still being
repeated. Gore certainly never claimed that.

On the other hand, the man who *did* play a seminal role in the
development of the internet, Vincent Cerf, said "The Internet would not
be where it is in the United States without the strong support given to
it and related research areas by the Vice President in his current role
and in his earlier role as Senator," which is what Gore was claiming in
the interview.

--

Dan
C172RG at BFM

"Dan Luke" wrote in message
...

On the other hand, the man who *did* play a seminal role in the
development of the internet, Vincent Cerf, said "The Internet would not be
where it is in the United States without the strong support given to it
and related research areas by the Vice President in his current role and
in his earlier role as Senator," which is what Gore was claiming in the
interview.


In the interview Gore claimed he "took the initiative in creating the
Internet." Gore entered Congress in January 1977, many of the components of
what we now call the Internet existed well before that time.