The Stars

i was trying not to mention the US and their war plans/issues/tactics in regards to certain middle-eastern countries, but yeah that´s true i suppose. <b>i stole the cookie </b> Edited by - cookiemonster on 5/29/2004 5:54:37 AM

Oy! Stop being political CM. It´s not a good idea; trust me <img src=smilies/icon_smile_big.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle>. While space exploration would be great, it is not feasible until a decent propulsion system is designed. Well, either than or flawless long-term cryogenics or stasis, etc.

cryogenics like in the opening of FL..... that´s too good to be true!

Cryigenics is not as reliable as people think. And getting the polititions to quit wasting money on usless projects and studys to have some to help people, is about as possible as warp drive. The Rodenberry Idea is only a dream, nice one, but only a dream. We spend so much money when the items we buy are so over priced, its not funny. It would be nice to have all the tax dollars to use as needed, but they are wasted. <img src=smilies/icon_smile_disapprove.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle>

/what Rec and FD said. <i><b>..how I dearly wish I was not here.. </b> </i>

Folks, just as a matter of perspective here, with all this moaning about NASA being a big waste of money, please take note: Fiscal Year 2003 - NASA budget: $8.8 Billion US Department of Transportation: $55 Billion US Department of Defense: $192 Billion. Tell where the wasted money is guys.

&quot;NASA budget: $8.8 Billion&quot; I don´t believe that figure at all. <i><b>..how I dearly wish I was not here.. </b> </i>

You´re right. I exagerrated. Congress was trying to reduce it last I heard. Probably less now. Now that we´re going to Mars, the 2004 budget is just under $18 Billion. Edited by - Indy11 on 5/29/2004 1:09:01 PM

you´re just pulling my leg. It´s more like US$88 billion. They couldn´t even fuel a Space Shuttle for 8 billion. Considering that the Mars Artoo´s cost 3/4 of a billion, that doesn´t leave much for anything else. You´re seriously trying to convince me that they maintain the Shuttle fleet, all the satellites, the DSR network, the remote probes, the research and training programmes, the rocket launchers and everything else? on 8 billion? rot. <i><b>..how I dearly wish I was not here.. </b> </i>

this country spends all its money on things not all that important like who got his schlong sucked by a secretary...(long time ago...) but the space budget is on the increase because of the 2 proposed plans...1. that going back to the moon project and 2. the mars project. if we werent too busy fighting someone elses wars for em we would probobly be spending tax dollars more wisely. Sadly though, the government here has this hard on for smiting 3rd world countries and weaker countries....i am not saying Iraq was not a threat but i am nto saying they were....the only true threats are China, N.Korea, and those damn Al Quieda. i have abad feeling that the true purpose other than freeing the iraqi citizenry, (by the looks of things they don´t like it) it seems that out government is trying to monopolize the oil industry...but hey thats what i guess you do when you have the assumption you are the richest country in the known world....even though we are 3 trillion in DEBT!!!!....how many zero´s is that?? <img src=smilies/icon_smile_tongue.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> &quot;To live is to die....but living is to die slowly..why waste time on trivial things just play as hard as you can&quot;

8 billion is a lot of money taw, more than everyone thats a member of TLR put together will ever see or spend during their lifetimes

<A href=´http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/55524main_FY05%20Agency%20Summary-2.31.pdf´ Target=_Blank> Official 2005 Budget Proposal PDF File </a> Plus Review of FY2003, Discussion of FY2004. <A href=´http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Budget_03.html´ Target=_Blank> Discussion of Reallocating FY 2003 Budget </a>

Its still a waste of money when so many other things could use the funds. Heath, wealfare of all. The infrastuction needs money too. <img src=smilies/icon_smile.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle>

<A href=´http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2004/pdf/hist.pdf´ Target=_Blank> President´s Historical Report of Federal Budgets from the 1960s to present</a> While more spending on health, education and welfare may be desirable, it is not as if the space program has been robbing the food. The White House says that spending on NASA for 2003 is less than $8 Billion.

At the very least, dump a lot back to debt control. I do see the importance of weather satilites, ect, but probes of venus, ect is a waste. As has been all the probes we have lost contact with, Space trash now. It still comes back down to missmanagement of the moneys/taxes. <img src=smilies/icon_smile_sad.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle>

I would like to point out that the days of 23 billion dollar missions to the moon are well and truly over taw. The cost of space flight is significantly reduced - mainly due to reusuable rockets. If it cost 8 billion a flight, would mobile phones and telecommunications companies really have satellites in space? I doubt that the liquid oxygen and hydrogen even break a twenty million to be honest, especially for flights that only touch orbit etc. Maybe 50-100 mil in extremes, but nothing like the billions of years gone by.

I was deliberatley using hyperbole when i said 8 billion a flight, of course its not that much. However I <i>still </i> don´t believe NASA only gets 8 billion for all its activities; that´s just crap. 8 billion for purely civil programmes maybe, but there´s a lot of military stuff that prob gets paid for out of the DoD budget. Creative accountancy, boys. You seriously telling me they´re going to build the ISS and the spaceplanes and Moonbush Alpha on 8 billion? c´mon I wasn´t born yesterday, you´re having a larf aren´t you? <i><b>..how I dearly wish I was not here.. </b> </i>

As non-credible as it may seem Taw, the point is that until Dubya did his JFK imitation and announced this new plan to go to Mars (don´t know how yet), both the Democrats and the Republicans have been whittling away at the NASA budget for decades. BTW, as I mentioned, the FY 2004 NASA budget has more than doubled to almost $18 Billion. Congress habitually appropriates less than what is being asked for. It goes against their nature to do otherwise. Also, the NASA budget is the stuff for space exploration and civil aeronautics, etc. The work NASA´s units do for the military is in the Department of Defense Budget .. i.e. Jet Propulsion Labs, stuff out in New Mexico. Besides, the defense work... waste of money or not, is not the subject of this particular tangent off this thread. <img src=smilies/icon_smile_tongue.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle>

ah see i knew all their stuff wasn´t paid for out of their own budget <img src=smilies/icon_smile.gif width=15 height=15 border=0 align=middle> that´ll be those $20,000-00 toilet seats and $5000-00 hammers.. <i><b>..how I dearly wish I was not here.. </b> </i>