Originally posted by Phage
The problem was once they did it the public got kind of bored and said,
"Well, what do you want to do now?"
"I dunno, what do you want to do?"
"I dunno."
He did talk about a spending $30million on developing a nuclear rocket but that didn't get too far.
I know I would much sooner jump on board a Tax Increase to supplement Space Exploration than I would a Tax Increase to supplement the War Effort in
Afghanistan and Iraq, or to bail-out Bankers that got us into the economic mess we are in. I know I would gladly hand over a third of my income if I
knew it was going towards the dream of exploring Space and settling other planets.
I know that I am not alone either. Every child that grew up watching Lost in Space, Space 1999, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica,
and such, has always shared the dream and desire to go amongst the stars.
I don't think it was ever a matter of "I dunno, what do you wanna do?" as much as it was every Senator either wanting to put their own 2 cents
worth into the direction NASA was to go next, or bickering over every 2 cent expense on the ledgers. You know what they say about too many cooks
stirring the pot.
Personally, I think NASA suffered from lack of leadership and a cohesive Mission Statement and direction, allowing them to be pulled in every
direction by every Senator with an opinion. Canning the X Program for the Shuttle Program was the turning point for NASA in my book. Things might have
turned out very differently had they gone with the former instead of the later.
However, I think the next chapter for Space needs to be in the hands of private individuals, private Corporations, and anyone who desires to go there.
It shouldn't be reserved for Military personnel or for Government Agencies only. I think the decline of NASA, and the rise of private Space
Exploration is long overdue. Granted, it will take the private sector a while to catch up to NASA, not having the funding or resources NASA has
enjoyed the past four decades and counting, not to mention the lack of experience, but they have something NASA has been short on for quite some time
now...ingenuity. It doesn't have to cost 50-100 million dollars to launch something into Low Orbit even if that is what it costs NASA to do such.
With enough ingenuity, it can be done for a couple hundred dollars...although you are going to lose a lot of bowling balls in the process of trying to
achieve that.
Since the accomplishment of the Reaction Research Society in November of 1996, civilian amateurs have been making one leap-frog step after another
into Space. On May 17th 2004 the Civilian Space eXploration Team (CSXT) finally reached that goal. Even Armadillo Aerospace with a $3.5 million
dollars spent over the course of 8 years has been able to achieve VTOL Rocket, and a Lunar Lander that has achieved success in tests and
competition.
People know what they want to do in Space and where to go, it's just that we all of different ideas of what that may be. The sky is no longer the
limit though, and as people realize that it can be done and can be done by amateurs and on the cheap, we'll be seeing the civilian sector surpassing
NASA within the next decade or two.