Former astronaut takes control of NASA The US Senate yesterday confirmed former astronaut Charles Frank Bolden as the new NASA head, with Lori Beth Garver occupying the deputy administrator's office. Charles Bolden Bolden, 62, is a former Marine Corp pilot who flew over 100 combat mission in Vietnam and eventually rose to the rank of major general before retiring …
Another view is that this, along with cuts to science missions, talk of merging NASA with the military's space efforts means that the future of Nasa is a wing of the USAF devoted to pointless but headline grabbing Man in Space publicity stunts..
So it's back to the 60s but this time playing 'our Germans are smarter than their Germans '- against the Chinese.
Were we to add up all the money spent on space exploration by the various governments of the planet we occupy and had chanelled all of that monetary resource throughout 'Life on Earth (tm BBC)', for the last forty years then maybe . . . . just maybe . . . . we might not be witnessing the world of today as we (as individuals) see it today!!
That is not a criticism of the last four decades . . . . just a repetition of the last two millenia.
I am not a climatologist, nor am I an ecologist. I'm certainly not a terrorist (but then again who is?) or an evangelist. I am not a scientist but I have studied physics/chemistry/biology in my life.
I am not a doom-monger either . . . . BUT . . . . I reserve the right to say this at least . . . .
Whatever your concern is about the marble you inhabit today, if you want it to remain the third rock from the sun, then you had better start thinking . . . . .
"Shouldn't we be looking to solve ALL the issues we have here on the Blue Marble . . . . first and then go looking for trouble elsewhere??!!
I leave all that for you to decide.
He is black huh. I hope you don't believe this is now a criteria for high government post. I understand why you posted as an anonymous coward.
Military? I have worked with former military officers and they really don't get working with civilians.
He mentioned the space station as the top priority without mentioning the space shuttle. You know that thing that has blown up twice. Has damage again and might blow up on the way back in. And you know that water they spray at launch but they didn't on first. The do it now because the first one almost exploded too.
Unless his priority is to make sure the replacement to the shuttle is a better feat of engineering he needs to resign now and save peoples lives.
Colonizing extra-terrestrial planets seems to me more doable and more profitable (especially in the long term, and especially in the -long- term when the Sun swells up and almost eats Earth) than spending money on, say, feeding the starving children of Africa. But if you're meaning something like alternate energy, I couldn't agree more that money should be spent on that, and it would benefit NASA too. (Rockets don't exactly use a small amount of fuel.)
Also I doubt you (or I) are completely aware of the benefits the spending has given mankind. I know a sizeable handful, but I'm sure there are tons more.
Anyway, this guy looks great for the job! Let's hope he succeeds without much government squashing (come on, there has to be some right?).
Republican/anti-Obama backlashery and accusations of nepotism (it is, afterall, America - there are probably certain ignorami still beating the race drum even though Obama won fair and square, who may or may not believe all black people know each other/are related/meet regularly to discuss the downfall of/how to confuse The White Man).
First and foremost, I hope Charlie gets the job done and done brilliantly. I also hope that under his guidance, NASA at least revisits the notion of a reusable spaceplane, rather than replacing the shuttle with something out of von Braun's German portfilio.
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