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supersix2 · 06-16-2009, 05:48 PM

I'd like to know how other Americans feel about the space program. As a part of the US Space Program (I'd rather not go into detail as to what exactly I do for the space program to avoid violating any policies), I feel like I constantly have to justify the existence of my job to other people not involved in the space program or the aerospace industry in general.

At first it seemed like the current administration might be NASA friendly...however with the formation of the Augustine commission and some information releases from the White House it seems like some people in the administration don't feel that supporting NASA's exploration goals are a priority. The goal is to get back to the Moon by 2020 and establish a permanent base on the Moon by 2025.

Now I know what some people are thinking "in this time of economic hardship can we really justify spending billions of dollars sending people into space." That seems to be the standard argument I hear. Well the truth of it is NASA's annual budget is between 14-18 billion dollars...that's ~0.5% of the entire Federal budget. A recent newspaper article in the Houston Chronicle cited that some in the administration would like to cut NASA's budget by 4.5 billion of the next 4 years which will effectively kill or delay for a really long time the Lunar exploration.

So in a time of economic hardship the government is basically driving the death nail in the coffin for a lot of aerospace engineers and technicians jobs. These are highly skilled and highly educated people who went to college with the goal in mind to contribute to America's exploration of space. In a time where we should be preserving jobs in America policies like this will only serve to make these jobs go away. Now the government has no problem shelling out 900 billion in bailout money to failing or failed businesses but to spend a mere 4.5 billion to ensure America's supremacy in space is too much of a cost.

Not to mention the message this sends to kids all over the country who might have aspirations to be an engineer or technician. We place no value on high tech engineering jobs, we would rather give money failed investment bankers who only brought this upon themselves.

The space business is not cheap, not fast moving, certainly dangerous but compared to other garbage we waste money on, the American taxpayer gets a pretty good bang for their buck.

I think the main problem is that NASA's goals are too long term for most people to keep track of. The moon by 2020? Didn't some guys in the 60's do it in 8 years? Sure did, but they took more risks and had about 3% of the Federal budget to do it.

Also, there wasn't people in Washington trying to change NASA's goals every few years to save money in the short term. The story of NASA in the 80's and 90's is pretty depressing...constant direction changes, wasted money, and compromised goals. We finally have a chance to accomplish something great and inspiring...please just let us do our job.

I joined the space program because I wanted to contribute to man's exploration of the solar system, at this point...any changes in the goal to go to the moon will have crushed by dreams and make everything I've worked for wasted.

Can you tell I'm frustrated?

06-16-2009, 05:48 PM	#1 (permalink)
supersix2 Insane Location: Houston	Thoughts on the space program? I'd like to know how other Americans feel about the space program. As a part of the US Space Program (I'd rather not go into detail as to what exactly I do for the space program to avoid violating any policies), I feel like I constantly have to justify the existence of my job to other people not involved in the space program or the aerospace industry in general. At first it seemed like the current administration might be NASA friendly...however with the formation of the Augustine commission and some information releases from the White House it seems like some people in the administration don't feel that supporting NASA's exploration goals are a priority. The goal is to get back to the Moon by 2020 and establish a permanent base on the Moon by 2025. Now I know what some people are thinking "in this time of economic hardship can we really justify spending billions of dollars sending people into space." That seems to be the standard argument I hear. Well the truth of it is NASA's annual budget is between 14-18 billion dollars...that's ~0.5% of the entire Federal budget. A recent newspaper article in the Houston Chronicle cited that some in the administration would like to cut NASA's budget by 4.5 billion of the next 4 years which will effectively kill or delay for a really long time the Lunar exploration. So in a time of economic hardship the government is basically driving the death nail in the coffin for a lot of aerospace engineers and technicians jobs. These are highly skilled and highly educated people who went to college with the goal in mind to contribute to America's exploration of space. In a time where we should be preserving jobs in America policies like this will only serve to make these jobs go away. Now the government has no problem shelling out 900 billion in bailout money to failing or failed businesses but to spend a mere 4.5 billion to ensure America's supremacy in space is too much of a cost. Not to mention the message this sends to kids all over the country who might have aspirations to be an engineer or technician. We place no value on high tech engineering jobs, we would rather give money failed investment bankers who only brought this upon themselves. The space business is not cheap, not fast moving, certainly dangerous but compared to other garbage we waste money on, the American taxpayer gets a pretty good bang for their buck. I think the main problem is that NASA's goals are too long term for most people to keep track of. The moon by 2020? Didn't some guys in the 60's do it in 8 years? Sure did, but they took more risks and had about 3% of the Federal budget to do it. Also, there wasn't people in Washington trying to change NASA's goals every few years to save money in the short term. The story of NASA in the 80's and 90's is pretty depressing...constant direction changes, wasted money, and compromised goals. We finally have a chance to accomplish something great and inspiring...please just let us do our job. I joined the space program because I wanted to contribute to man's exploration of the solar system, at this point...any changes in the goal to go to the moon will have crushed by dreams and make everything I've worked for wasted. Can you tell I'm frustrated?