NASA-haters make me sick.

[Odin2005]

:puke:

[realisticphish]

1. IT'S A WASTE OF MONEY

they spend HUNDREDS of dollars that could be used to fund my pet issue!

[salvorhardin]

2. Yep

The "I support NASA but..." crowd is just as bad. "I support NASA, but manned spaceflight is a waste of money. We should just send robots, or better yet, just use satellites. I liked Hubble."

[realisticphish]

3. hubble can detect life of mars

DUH

[Deep13]

8. How is that just as bad?

I fully agree with the scientific research NASA does and happen to think we get more exploring done with robots than we ever could with human travel. I'm not saying human travel should be eliminated, but I don't think it should exist at the expense of robots. While I reject the logic of the either-or false dilemmas, the fact is that space exploration will never be a huge political priority so it will continue to have to fight for ever dollar. Why not use them as productively as possible?

[realisticphish]

9. this is a big debate

I've heard good points from both sides, but honestly, a "split the difference" like you propose is the best option, imho. I do think that we should try to put humans on Mars, but it shouldn't be done by cutting probes. And we shouldn't try to rush it either. Focus on the stuff we CAN do, especially without shuttles, and worry about Mars in the next 20 years, or more.

[Orrex]

4. I agree with Carl Sagan that manned spaceflight is largely superfluous

However, any complaints about NASA being a waste of money are simply idiotic. They've accomplished astonishing things with a relatively tiny budget.

[TZ]

5. I constsntly remind people that zero gravity medical research

is very important. I see the grants that Nasa has with the pharamceutical, academic instituions all the TIME! Aargh. I can't get over supposedly educated people not understanding it. Its always struck me as very Right wingish to dismiss Nasa as useless...

[Orrex]

6. Until NASA proves the existence of God, then it is indeed useless

Upon further reflection, I guess I should have specified that manned space exploration is largely superfluous, when remote probes have proven their capability time and again. To this end, I'm not convinced that a multi-trillion-dollar Mars mission will be in the best interests of the country for many years to come.

I would think that orbital missions can accomplish just about all of the zero-g research we need, can't they?


However, I'm troubled by the sentiment expressed (not by you) elsewhere on DU and in the media-at-large that it's somehow "un-American" to make use of commercial rockets for orbital insertion, or to hitch a ride on another nation's rocket.

[realisticphish]

7. still

a mars base would be fucking cool :D

I also hate it when people bitch about some probes failing. Oh, I'm sorry, YOU try flying a small piece of metal millions of miles away, then dealing with a multi-hour (at least) delay in both your transmission to it, and its transmission to you.

the success rate of NASA probes is something to be APPLAUDED

[progressoid]

10. Ya.

Maybe I'm naive about this but I think a Mars base would also be a unifying and hopeful thing. Even RW douchebags would have a hard time lashing out against such a success.

of course, I'd be shocked if there is even any progress toward that goal in the next 20 years.

Still, it would be fucking cool. :)

[jberryhill]

11. I wonder which project costs more

1. Establishing a permanent manned base on Mars

2. Establishing a permanent manned base in Afghanistan

[realisticphish]

12. +1

[TZ]

14. Last I checked Afghanistan has an Oxy-Nitro atmosphere

Sorry. But thats kinda a dumb comparison.:eyes:

[woo me with science]

15. As a woman, I'd rather live on Mars.

Better atmosphere.

[JackRiddler]

13. False dichotomy?

It's the military machine I reject, not NASA. You just can't ignore that some black-budgeted big slice of the NASA budget is going into military missions.

NASA should be liberated from that and funded well to conduct peaceful exploration and eventually colonization.

[JitterbugPerfume]

16. We go there because it is THERE

Robotic exploration is more practical but there is something about human space travel that is thrilling .

The NASA haters are beyond my understanding.