Quote:
Originally Posted by DaemonSeid
You know...as much as I love stories of space travel, we have problems going on here on Earth that space is a 2nd priority
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I agree, and I say that as someone who is about to marry an aerospace engineer. For right now, we need to be spending that money in areas that will get us out of the crisis we are in. We owe an impossible amount of money to the Chinese, people are exhausting their unemployment funds, the housing market continues to fall, and the government is having to bail out everything from banks to big business to the american citizen (in the case of health care). The space program - at least the development of the new spacecraft for our astronauts - should be shelved for now, even for just a couple of years. It can be picked back up again when we have the money for it.
And frankly, as admirable and inspiring the three astronauts mentioned in this article are, they flew during a completely different era in our nation's history. Our politics have changed, and even the space program is radically different now than it was then. We didn't even have the space shuttle when these guys went up. I also don't expect astronauts to be very happy with any decision that would compromise the space program, just as I wouldn't be happy if suddenly my occupation became obsolete. I guess I'd be interested in hearing what others at NASA, who undoubtedly weighed in, have to say.