Watch Obama address NASA LIVE about its future. Mars?

reply to post by MysterE

"Obama dismantles NASA budget"

Excellent point.

I find Obama's speech, how do I word this, to lack definition of what NASA's goals are. Was [is] there definition of Manned Space Flight, furture goals?

Very vague if you ask me.

Originally posted by theability
Does the media twist words on purpose, or do you think that they are just focusing on things that 'sell' best?

I'd say both. Especially when it comes to headlines. They seem to go with what grabs the most attention. The whole "NASA to bomb the Moon" headlines that were going around last year, are a great example of how over sensationalized headlines can get.

Unfortunately the MSM can NOT be trusted when it comes to space related content.

I agree with jra that they often go for the catchy headline rather than the one that is correct. This extends into the body of many articles and broadcsts as well. I can't tell you how often I get fustrated because a reporter describes something in a way that he obviously thinks sounds better or more colorfull, but by choosing those words actually changes the meaning of what is being said, and therfore misleads the public on what is actually going on. This happens with all storys not just science ones.

But with science and space storys in particular I feel there is also an element of people reporting on things they have no personal knowledge of and not doing the research to bone up on what ever it is they are reporting on. The MSM constantly confuses things and their reports often turn into a jumbled mess.

As for this case, I think it could very well be that they are just going for the flashy headline. But it could also be that they just simply don't realize that even though Obama said we are going to Mars that it doesn't really amount to a hill of beans. Every president since Kennedy said we would go to Mars. Kennedy himself probably said it at some point. But just like Obama none of them gave a date or a real firm time line. Obama saying "I hope to see humans land on Mars before I die" (not an exact quote) is not exactly a real goal or a real mission and certainly can not be considered a plan.

Anyway the media sucks. You can't trust those jerks on just about anything.

The Shuttle had to be retired. They've been lucky with the launches of the last few years that they didn't lose another one. I'm sure the astronauts counted their lucky stars that they made it home.

Q. How much does it cost to launch a Space Shuttle?

A. The average cost to launch a Space Shuttle is about $450 million per mission.

source

So NASA is spending $1.5-2 Billion a year just on Shuttle Missions(3-4 missions/year)

That eats up a lot of their budget every year and the cost versus return isn't worth it if they can find a cheaper per mission alternative.

If the Shuttle eats up that much of the budget it doesn't leave much room for other stuff once you factor in joint mission costs with other nations and such. How are you going to invest in future technologies when your space mission costs eat up 30-40% of your budget.

To have a long term space presence they need to find a vehicle that has considerably smaller mission costs so that they can have more missions.

The Shuttle was an amazing engineering feat and I honour all the brave men and women who have flown in them and to those who were lost in advancing mankind's knowledge of space and technology.

But as any good ship, the Shuttles need to be put to rest and should go out on a positive note. Successful missions and the return to Earth of their passengers should be the final send off for these great ships.

I have a feeling if their mission is prolonged another deadly tragedy will occur and the beautiful legacy of the Shuttles will be mired in tragedy.

Just my thoughts and 0.03c(the Loonie is doing well lately)