Obama to cripple space program

[Deldem]

As others have said prior to this, it's a strange day- I'm actually agreeing with jmf.

While it's not as bad as people say (still a net increase in budget, I believe), I still have a major issue with removing Constellation and not replacing it with anything at all concrete. Sure, not much has been accomplished so far, but I do not believe that essentially giving up on this is necessarily a good idea. Besides, I thought we were trying to encourage science and math? What better way is there to encourage this- space is truly the final frontier, the only thing out there we haven't even truly begun to explore. Plus, this basically decimates JSC and KSC, which were the primary centers for Constellation, and consequently, many of the people in my area's livelihood.

The thing with private industry is that while there is some provision to have them involved with low Earth orbit things, this really truly uncharted territory for the private sector. When push comes to shove, it will not be them clamoring to go up to the moon and mars and beyond, but rather the impetus will have to come from our government, and from the great masses of the people.

I personally think that the problem here that allows this to happen is that people don't understand what space brings them. Our space program has pushed technology far more than people think about- look at GPS, computers, cell phones, even cable/satellite television. Space, more than anything else, pushes us forward in technology, learning, hell even pride in what the best and brightest in America can achieve.

[Deldem]

I personally think that the problem here that allows this to happen is that people don't understand what space brings them. Our space program has pushed technology far more than people think about- look at GPS, computers, cell phones, even cable/satellite television. Space, more than anything else, pushes us forward in technology, learning, hell even pride in what the best and brightest in America can achieve.

And what do GPS, computers, cell phones, or even cable/satellite television have to do with the manned space program? 

(Yes, I am aware that the Apollo Guidance Computer was the first all integrated-circuit computer, but the slightly earlier D-37C that used a mixture of IC's and discrete logic  which was the guidance computer for the Minuteman II was the computer responsible for jump-starting the IC industry as far more IC's were used to build D-37C's simply because far more Minutemen II missiles were built than Apollos.)

Manned space flight puts a face on things. If we just sent probes up, the program would have been canceled a long time ago, simply because it wouldn't excite ordinary people.