Obama to Nasa: No Space For You!

If you want to spend more gov. money on NASA we need to bring the Military portion of the budget down. Almost 50% of your taxes go to r&d like Lockheed to make super weapons.

space exploration is one of the only cool things we have left in a world thats falling to shit. we could be flushing mankind's existence down the toilet.

Im curious, what have you benefited from the space program after billions and billions of dollars spent?

Has anyone here seen the Constellation program? It's a sad. little joke. It's a revival of 1950's style space exploration. If you weren't embarrassed by the future of America's space program it's because you weren't paying attention, which is totally cool, I mean who reads Popular Mechanics anyway.

Killing that program and redirecting the funds back to R&D at least gives us a shot for a world-class vehicle.
Also, note, Obama increased funding into space exploration, not killed it. But either way, saving jobs in Florida is not what should determine the direction of the space program.

-Johnny Lewis

Privatizing Space exploration... Ive seen this show. It was canceled. Defying Gravity.. Media driven space exploration, reality shows in space..

Okay. You people have got to stop being shocked when he gives laptops & island homes to al quaeda - dive bombs manhattan at ground zero w/his jumbo jet- stoping space exp. and losing 100,000 jobs so his cronies can get rich-er.

This dark angry muslim believes he is mohammeds Punisher of whites, jews and America in general. His wife has told you, his pastor. his friends like black nazi van jones ("No black kid neva did no columbined"). His view of america is dark and twisted and he full intends to tear it down. Everything he does that hurts us, is NOT because he is so stupid he doesnt realize it. It's because he DOES.

btw Mr. Jones...I guess you fogits about john boyd malvo. a black teen thug that crawled into the trunk of a car and slaughtered 10 people in d.c. area. Nevermind the 1000's murdered by teen bloods crypts & countless other gang bangas. But...like your buddy hussien obama...you black nazi's have a talent for seeing what you WANT to see and not much else.

Me. Unlike michele hussien obama I HAVEN'T been ashamed of america all my adult life. I see the tremendous humanitarian relief coming out of white america for black nations like haiti and brown ones like chile ...china India/ bangaladesh- wheat to starving russia.

Obama stated "Well, you know...the American flag is a symbol of repression in many parts of the world".
right. we're repressing the livin crap out the haitians & the people of chile. how bout that su-nami few yrs. back there barack? without white american tax dollars, and white american private donations they would have ceased to exist. That American Flag has helped millions more than it has prepressed. If you are afraid or ashamed to wear that pin on your lapel...there is something seriously wrong with you. maladjusted & racist

You see us as all bad all the time. My children...all soldiers...are NOT enemies of the state in spite of this admin. memos and opinions. I am PROUD of thier serivce in afghanistan & iraq and for the record...They tell me they WERE NOT air raiding villages and murdering innocent women & children. Personally, I believe my children over you.

I am PROUD of this Nation. I am PROUD to be white. I thought with this last election you would see something good in us. something other than the hate filled rat-poison racisim of malcolm x. But...it's worse now than before. YOU are ever more the racists. What a shame. What a wasted oportunity to change our world.

It says he's actually increasing NASA's budget for 2011, so there shouldn't be less jobs there should be more, just in different areas. The private companies who gain government contracts will have to hire more people too. Its certainly a gamble but it might pay off big time if the private sector gets more involved with space exploration. Just look at how fast other areas of technology are advancing with private companies at the helm

of all people to kill a dream...

They're right about the job loss. My father has been an employee for Lockheed Martin for the past 28 years, and three weeks ago he was told that everyone in his department would be laid off by June.

The title of the article was kinda misleading... He isnt ending NASA just our next mission to the moon. Well that and hes canceling the Ares rocket program and funneling more money to research than exploration. Not a bad move.

Yes lets spend all our energy on not finding a way for humans to travel to other planets and live in space, lets spend it all down here on the ground.

Of course when the ground under our feet gets blown to bits by an asteroid, and the human races is wiped out we might have wished we spent that less than 1% of our budget on manned missions to space, it would have only taken a tiny fraction of the trillions given to banks and GM to have saved the human race.

Is it doom and gloom to think about this possibility, no I dont think so, we know that this can happen, has happened and could happen at anytime, how do we know this? Well it was space science that showed us that its not as safe as we with our tiny lifespans might think out here in space, oh yeah we do live in space on a huge spaceship and are all astronauts, so maybe we should build a few lifeboats just in case some huge iceberg of a comet comes along, oh thats right we dont need to have enough lifeboats on our "ship" its indestructable, hmmm that sounds familiar.....

But then maybe we shouldnt have "wasted" money on the space science that has shown us the risks out here in space, that way we could just blissfully live our daily lives squabbling away as usual and then without warning ...SPLAT... Maybe that is better.

Btw the number of scientists that are funded to find threats and give us an early warning are fewer than the crew at your local fast food joint. And the funding is like a paltry million, and can they find every threat in time? No they are undermanned and underfunded......

So yes go on humanity dont wast any money on space and lets spend it all down here giving trillions to failing banks and auto makers that are failing because of greedy stupid practices.......

Yes I do like the idea of a "private" space program if I had the $'s I'd build a few space ark colony ships and only let on board the smartest kids on earth (an IQ test would be required) and head out on a magnificent voyage of discovery and when the day comes .. oops... we can watch the fireworks on earth from our viewscreen.... :-)

Yeah, I know Oprah gets wet every time she hears Obama's voice or name being uttered, but get really real. Did you thing the feel good guy was going to not rape your country like the Bush's and Clinton (and Gore)? Think again and look at who is playing in his white house. The operative word is think.

And why are we in Iraq at a cost of 600,000+ people? Expect some big surprises and watch the small print. I didn't think I could despise anyone more than Clinton and Bush. I must now reconsider. Obama is in a whole new league.

i love when people argue against scientific advancement...

Ten thousand robots can travel space at the price as one human being. Now that's cost savings.

When it comes to private industry launching space ships it will never happen in America. Private industry would hire Iranian people to build them before they would hire Americans. Obama could have said manned space flight is over in America and it would mean the same.

Thanks again for the hope and change every one who voted for obama should be ashamed.We are in the infancy of space exploration there are elements out there we wont find here there are discoveries that will fundamentally change our understanding of the universe instead we dump more money on the poor who remain poor but continue to get money dumped on them so they can be more comfortable in there poverty the poor have always been here they will always be here the future calls out and obama spits in its face.

honestly i dont know why we care so much about space that we waste even a penny on it. logically what are we going to gain from all this. why don't we focus on the rock we are on before we focus on a rock that billions of miles away. It is not like we are ever going to invent "hyperdrives" or whatever and start traveling the universe and settleing other planets. as Spock would say it is illogical. Im just saying why don't we focus on our planet for a change. sometimes i think our imaginations get the best of us.

privatizing science is what got us mosanto. I don't even want to imagine the horrors of corporate space faring...

The role of scientific discovery is and was not meant to be a way to make money, its for the sole purpose of discovering the truth about our universe. Nasa isn't a business, and if america wants to cut something cut the military and send all the troops to learn physics and engineering, that'll actually benefit society. I could care less about the profitability of something so enriching and beneficial, I doubt people even know the tech that came from nasa research that we use everyday.. Ahh its irritating, but I mustn't let my emotions permeate through in regards to this matter its more of a common sense thing.
We already bastardized our universities with no kid wanting to have a true education and pursues pseudo sciences like say economics or business so they can make money.

Socrates must be rolling in his grave, well or face-palming with zeus : /

If only NASA would have caused the financial crisis.... then they'd get bailout $$$$

Your argument is only half true. Back in the early days of the railroads, only the rich, or large transportation companies were able to use the railroads. As the railroads began to expand, however, a ticket was cheap enough for most people to afford one. The same is true of airplanes. For a long time, only the rich were able to afford to fly to places. Now, almost anyone can afford to get somewhere by flying (albeit while passing through ridiculous airport security)

Up until recently, spaceflight has been something that only massive government bodies such as NASA have been able to achieve. This is beginning to change, and although only the rich can afford to get into space as we speak, as space travel becomes more profitable, as technology evolves, and as competition for space-flight grows, there will eventually be incentive for people to spend money on expanding space exploration -- ie. profit.

NASA is a giant funding black hole. While they are very good at doing science, their stated objective -- that is, to get us all into space -- requires billions upon billions (sorry, Carl Sagan) of dollars for minuscule returns in thirty or so years. Obama's plan to fund commercial spaceflight is something that we should have been doing for decades, and it's the only thing that's going to result in average people being able to buy tickets to Mars within our lifetimes.

I think this is actually a good thing. NASA should never be apart of a government agency. Thats what has been holding it back all these years. NASA needs to be a private, independent organization so it can raise it's own money for exploration of space, science, and research.
NASA could actually put pattons on some of the inventions it creates and make a ton of money for itself. It's time NASA starts to grow on its own and stop using the government as a crutch. Space travel is not limited to just the United States. It should be a gift for all of mankind.
NASA would be twice as big and have alot more funds if it would combine with all of the contract busineses it works with. Maybe in the future NASA could even join with the ESA (Europe) and Japan Space Agency. That would be awesome for free democractic countires. Russia & China would be no match.

I think that funding can be used to improve earth's situations first.
Every industry face job loss.(the workers will get unemployment right?) Is it the right decision for that funding to go to commercial space flights? No. It should be invested in regular flying-safety etc.
because that's what the majority of the people are using.
NASA definitely have contributed to many advancements, but there is no improvement here on earth for majority of the people. There needs to
be a balance where eartlhy conditions are improved as well.

Space programs have gone through trial & error periods like any industry.
We have even put garbage in space.
Also why cannot we improve our conditions here --should we keep destryoing our planet because we can get out to go to space and to another planet? and will we destroy that too? people have to change, what is good of going to Mars,
if we are going to take the same wars, fights, greed, human nature with us?
We have to get better first and take care of the planet we have. It seems to me
like lot of "sky is falling people" have gotten their way for too long and kept
resources from those who need it to survive.

It is good to keep an alternative space in mind, but money going toward research possibilities, instead of what
could help improve conditions and implement actions now and save humanity
seems pretty selfish.

So if the governement is not taking all the funding from NASA it should not be a problem, they just have to cut back on somethings like everyone else.

Obama is spot on with one. The whole idea of going to space to put flag in the soil of the moon is silly to begin with and not really an accomplishment because no ones lives were made better by it.

Now the situation on earth calls for the money to spent on projecst within the stratosphere.

I cant believe im saying this but this is a brilliant move from obama..the way to really let this thing take off is make it commercialized..

with the way things are looking down here, we're definitely going to be moving off planet eventually. and like dugan says, i'd rather be there before our world blows up than after

There are two basic argument points here:

1. the Chinese have openly stated they plan to build a military base on the moon, and their space program is well on the way to achieving this.

2. if humanity is faced with an extinction level event in the near future do we want to be in a position to be able to spread mankind away from earth and out into space or shall we just become extinct due to short sightedness and everything we ever accomplished, fought for will all be for naught?

How does this affect any future missions to Mars? Landing on Mars is a distant goal that no space agency is capable of doing at this time. Anyone who believes that China and Russia are now in position to put a man on Mars first is mistaken.

By the way. A Mars mission may even be a collaborative effort between many space agencies, like the international space station.

people don't understand how much NASA does, and how much of that is applied to our daily lives. not to mention we'll be living in space soon enough, i'd rather not be behind in space exploration

"Obama, in his Feb. 1 budget proposal, planned to increase NASA's overall funding to $19 billion in 2011 with an emphasis on science and less spent on space exploration."

It's not like Obama is hurting NASA. He is increasing their funding and canceling a program that wouldn't have gotten us much more than the rights to say we were on Mars first. He is simply asking NASA to focus on further developing the technology they have in order to make it cheaper and more efficient. We are overextending ourselves on earth, we don't need to do it in space too.

gay

I kinda agree with both sides on this.

I disagree with ending NASA's space exploration programs...but free enterprise in space is a good idea. Technology evolves that much faster when a whole buncha people are brainstorming ideas.

seriously though, what HAS nasa done for us lately? bombed the moon? that helped the budget crisis a lot.

We know more about the surface of the moon than we do about our own oceans. Want to know more about the universe? Let's try putting an equal amount of resource into exploring where we actually came from.

good tell me WHAT has NASA done lately for mankind? Besides making an oversize research hotel in space.
How bout a couple of Earth monitoring Satellites that are publicly accessible.
You know some of us still live on this planet..