Re: Back to the moon? When?


"Sylvia Else" <sylvia@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4738ce62$0$6484$afc38c87@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
That's a reasonable explanation from the point of view of NASA, but when
you look at it from the wider perspective of the USA, I think my point
about their not having a convincing reason for going does stand up. If
there were a compelling need to go back to the moon, the US tax payer, and
thus Congress, would be willing to provide funding in greater amounts and
sooner. The hard fact of the matter is that Joe Public doesn't care
whether the USA goes back to the moon or not. Been there, done that.

I don't think history supports that assertion. NASA has never been able to
find a good reason to convince the congress and administration that it needs
a large, sustained increase in funding. Believe me, it's been trying. NASA
has a long list of projects where they've tried this. They all failed to
have significantly increased funding in the long term.

If you think that something magical will happen that will drum up real
support for significant, sustained, increases in NASA funding, you're
dreaming. The political reality is that its funding will remain about
where it is, perhaps with modest increases that will cover inflation.

Jeff
--
"When transportation is cheap, frequent, reliable, and flexible,
everything else becomes easier."
- Jon Goff


.

Relevant Pages

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