What's up with NASA?
I get this question, or some version of it almost every day. Somedays I'm tired and simply don't feel like an extensive explanation so I give a terse or evasive answer. Perhaps it is time to correct that.
To begin, I can't possibly speak for a NASA as a whole nor for anyone besides myself. What I can do is convey what we are doing and how we are feeling, at least at JSC and in my division.
We are hurting. We are a community of capable, dedicated people who enjoy nothing more than a difficult, even impossible task, and making it happen. We have done such things and we want to continue to do them. Yet for reasons truly beyond understanding, we are cast adrift. The old mission is moribund, the new mission is non-existent. This is a dreadful situation and it saps the strength from us in ways not easy to explain. We want to leave the old and start the new, but we can't. This hurts.
We are angry. Not merely because we are hurt but because colleagues are being sent out the door. People who know how to do things, how to design and implement flight systems are walking out the door, to never be back. We wish them the good fortune to find a job to take care of them and theirs. But they are lost to us. All of that talent is gone. For every four folks working on Shuttle since Challenger who leave we lose a century of experience. What possible price may we put on that? No amount of cash will conjure experience, wisdom and understanding.
This profligate waste of talent is what angers us. We at JSC spend a great deal of time and effort to train up our people. Furthermore we do a great deal that must be learned but cannot be taught. By example and leadership do we turn a bright, eager engineer into a capable professional whom you would trust with our national treasures. Losing any of these good people is an impact upon us. Losing so many is incalculable. Even should we get a new, vibrant mission to pursue next week, it will take us years to recover from those already lost.
We are angry. I am angry. I would encourage you to be angry as well. It was your money which created what is being lost. It will be your money used to make up that ground again.
We are hopeful. We have initiatives right now at JSC which promise to change how we do things for the better. They are exciting and thankfully I have the good fortune to be a part of one of them. It is great stuff. We who are left will do all we can to make wondrous things happen. It is why we get out of bed in the morning. That has not changed.
We are NASA. We are the ones who turn aspirations into living reality. We will continue to do that come Hell, high water or low budgets. It is what we do.
Ad Astra Per Aspera,
Kevin
posted by Kevin | 3:27 PM
36 Comments:
ad astra ad nauseum.
nasa has almost produced almost no important basic science for its billions of dollars of cost.
Compare FERMILAB, BROOKHAVEN, OR THE
inexpensive Institute for Advanced Study.
For basic science, the manned Space Program is a waste of money, as is the expensive space station.
I disagree with Anonymous above. One day we will have to leave Earth to expand or survive. The more we know about how to survive away from home and out in space, the better our chances we will when the time comes to possibly leave it forever. We are learning more about what it takes every time we send a shuttle up there.
For basic engineering NASA and the manned space program are fantastic.
We can't constantly do basic science, all the time.
As I sit here browsing the internet on my mobile phone while eating my $4 frozen dinner, watching live feeds of global news provided to me via satellite, using my GPS to plot a route to work that avoids traffic congestion, and forwarding my MRI scans to my doctor, I can't help but agree with you, Anonymous. NASA - a complete waste of money.
I agree with the above sentiment having flown 12 hours non-stop at 36,000 feet recently. Nasa, what is it good fer?
NASA - a complete waste of money (for the tax payers). If you think NASA is such a wonderful thing, so go on your own as a private company.
Yeah A big waste like Goverment unions, Welfare, Social Security, NPR, PBS, Osha, Msha, EPA, FAA, TSA, NEA.
I like my Tech... I don't like the Social programs that REWARD unemployment and bad choices.
Goodbye NASA. I won't miss you. It's not like you went to the Moon or anything!
"nasa has almost produced almost no important basic science for its billions of dollars of cost."
Arrogance and ignorance is a dangerous combination.
I am sure we will use the money saved by the NASA cutbacks to do something really useful - like fight a war.
And do remember, nothing NASA has ever done has proven useful to the military.
Much bigger wastes of money out there and in-progress. On one tiny scope; even schools have a huge amount of waste, not even including prospects such as outdated teaching methods or in-effective teachers.
Why not keep a relatively in-expensive gem such as NASA? There is profit beyond monetary values.
Otherwise it's going to be much harder to brainwash some of our would-be youthful NASA-fans into believing this country is great. Not everyone goes for 200 year old lies & exaggerations.
It's simply false that NASA doesn't produce anything of value. Many, if not most, of the innovations that drive modern technology today are in some way tied to our race to the moon.
The lack of vision at NASA is endemic within the rest of the united states. Popular colture has lost an interest in science and engineering that propelled NASA in the past, and that needs to be recaptured, both at NASA and throughout the rest of the country.
Once joe shmo is inspired again by that kind of education, then NASA's vision problems will take care of themselves.
http://www.closr.it/show/MJyJPZXwebl
Try to find NASA on this graph of the US budget before you want it to close down because it's such a HUGE waste.
Without the work of NASA, we'd not have half of the new crop production techniques that keep you (and incidentally a large portion of this world,) fed and fat.
Of course, now that NASA has stopped work on LED horticulture, I've had to take over for them and outdo their old research.
Don't put NASA down as a 'done-nothing' as a HUGE majority of the technology (and even some foods,) you use today was developed FOR NASA or BY NASA.
If you think NASA is worthless, well, toss out your computers, toss out your velcro items, toss out a whole bunch of things in your everyday life, and enjoy living in a 1950's world.
*Sigh* Dear Libertarians: not everything can be ruled by a so-called market, because not everything can be measured by a one-dimensional arbitrary metric like "capital."
Funny thing, most of you produce very little, either in terms of value proposition or tangible positive impact on humanity as a whole, in order to justify your usage of oxygen (a limited and valuable fundamental resource). Yet, I fail to see you guys committing hara-kiri. Therefore, such lack of compliance, with the same hard-assed market-driven valuations you impose on everyone else, that's kind of hypocritical no?
To the actual NASA people, you guys rock. And even though things may suck now due to the sheer short-sightedness of some. Remember; when our first ancestors decided to leave the trees, there were plenty of dicks who laughed and mocked bipedal ground excursions as a silly waste of time and effort. Now, who is flying stuff into space and who is still flinging poo among themselves back in the trees?
Think of all the foreign countries we could invade and pointless drug battles we could wage. with that precious NASA money.
I know some of the comments submitted have been highly sarcastic, but some of the earlier ones have clearly been coming from a place of ignorance.
Design engineers of all stripes benefit DAILY from what comes out of NASA. Part of its charter MANDATES that NASA share its tech with private enterprise. From TechBriefs.com...
"When the U.S. Congress formed the National Aeronautics & Space Administration in 1958, it mandated in the charter that NASA and its contractors must report to industry any new, commercially-significant technologies developed in the course of their R&D, so that engineers, managers, and scientists could use this valuable information to improve their competitiveness and productivity. For more than three decades, this has been accomplished primarily through the publication of NASA Tech Briefs."
So if you're thinking that all NASA has contributed to American society is Tang and Valcro, you're wrong. Not just sorta wrong, but I-can't-believe-you're-allowed-to-share-my-oxygen wrong. Rethink your position on how NASA contributes to our society based on its less-than-1% allocation of our country's budget.
I don't know how you can say NASA is a waste of money when instead of invading a foreign country for a decade we could have gone to Mars a couple times over. But hey, let's keep bombing brown people, it's what we're good at. It isn't doing a damn thing to make us safer either! Programs like Nasa are such a small chunk of our budget, we spend 60% in debt maintenance alone. Some of these posters need to learn the facts!
It it increasingly obvious that a 'sarcasm' html tag is needed, so that we don't continue to unknowingly validate idiotic ideas in idiotic minds.
To anyone thinking that the above posts really believe that NASA has done nothing for us - go back and read the comments with sarcasm in mind...
sigh
I was in denial at first, but our once-great country is truly on the downslope of history. Arrogant ignorance has indeed taken over.
the money NASA uses is taken from people most of the time involuntarily.
A lot of people don't want to pay for your salary, or the salary of your peers.
"...for reasons truly beyond understanding..."
That phrase simply can not be allowed to stand.
The good people at NASA have achieved many valuable and worthy things. Much effort and sacrifice is no doubt associated with these accomplishments. There are undoubtably many who have given their hearts and souls to their work. I honor those dedicated, brilliant, and hard-working folks who have made so much possible.
But let's be honest here... it is no secret that NASA has not used the resources that have been given it, wisely. The scope of the inefficiencies and waste are boggling. Had those charged with administering those funds treated them more appropriately I'd wager that NASA would find itself in an entirely different situation.
If the people at NASA are looking for reasons, I don't think they need look very far.
GET REAL, the space shuttle was one of the most inefficient ways of getting to space EVER invented. It was so inefficient that the Russians believed it was a weapons platform for years, because they did the math and could not believe the Americans were so stupid to use a platform so mind bogglingly inefficient. SURPRISE, we are that stupid! NASA has done good things, getting cargo to space efficiently is not one of them.
For all those saying NASA has cost us billions over the past 30 years. What has waging war cost us, and what have we gained from it?. No further knowledge was obtained. No deeper understanding of our place in the universe. Id argue that NASA is possibly the most important organizations ever put together by the human race.
It's cute (and quite sad) that no one even thinks about the "Aeronautics" part of NASA. It's not all research about extreme missions to Mars and drinking wacky versions of Earth beverages.
Anyone like weather forecasting and their flight being on time? When NASA gets cuts, it hurts those kinds of interests, too.
Please, If you have any voice in NASA, please please convince people that the Nautilus-X is the future.
A reconfigurable interplanetary ship based off the design of the ISS. What a wonderful idea!
If NASA focused their efforts on something like this, I think it would give hope and inspire a new generation.
Invisible Braces
Scratch Resistant Lenses
Memory Foam
Ear Thermometer
Shoe insoles
Long-Distance telecommunications
Adjustable smoke detectors
Safety grooving for Roads/Highways
Cordless Tools
and Water Filters...
All courtesy of NASA and their contractors... It's more than just space exploration.
Pure Sciences are important, as sometime things discovered can take decades to mature, but be revolutionar, eg Lasers, LEDs. Even Edison light globe would have been seen as a novalty at first. Trillions for wars, but science is dead. America your future lies with your future, not with your wars
For those that wonder what good NASA does, I'll put this link here. NASA comes out with a different report every YEAR.
http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/Spinoff2010/pdf/Spinoff2010.pdf
We are truly lost if our idea of survival means cutting money for NASA. Earth is a very, very fragile place. We will need to leave our planet, maybe not in the next couple of years, but if we value future generations AT ALL, we must continue to fund NASA.
Top 25 things NASA has done for you. Never Forget the value of inquisitive minds. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1752963.ece
Many are pointing to the expense of war in defense of the waste and inefficiency at NASA.
For the record, pointing to the wasteful habits of others is no excuse for the long years of mismanagement that has occured at NASA.
When my son misbehaves I do not accept his excuses: "But Billy was also being bad," or "Jill was even worse."
These people may be smart, but they are also greedy self-serving wastrals who have stolen from the rest of us. They've ridden American taxpayers hard, and now they are looking for sympathy?
Shame on them.
NASA - I love you - BUT - welcome to Capitalism. American workers have had the life sucked out of them by rich elitists on Wall Street for the last 30 years and nary a peep from the scientific community, and now, somehow, the tens of millions of Americans who have been displaced by cheap Chinese labor are supposed to feel bad about the plight of "...overpaid engineers who add nothing to the US Economy and are a leech on the tit of the taxpayer..."
Oh, the irony...value is in the eye of the beholder. Next time you shop look where it's made. You just got outsourced...
your Nasa friends that have been let go should go work for China. I heard in Asia they still care about Science, unlike dinosaur walking with jebus America.
"nasa has almost produced almost no important basic science for its billions of dollars of cost."
HAHAAHAHAHA nice gramr
The comments here are amusing. The USA is screwed. You are all welfare queens, happily fighting murderous wars with borrowed cash, complaining about the pittance needed for unemployment and social insurance net as if you have no part in it at all, assuming everything you have is from your own efforts, and reducing science to a past time you have no interest in. It's always someone else's fault- terrorists, the poor, the differently skin-toned, the differently religioned. What a futile, brittle culture you have bred. You deserve the hovel you are building for yourself. You'll be pushing broom for the rest of the world that still does value investment and discovery.
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