Archive for NASA
Candidate Moonbeam
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Last week Newt, aka Candidate Moonbeam, attacked Romney’s Bain Capital for firing the workers of failing companies.This week, in an appeal to the wine and green cheese set, he’s come up with a plan for expanding government to the moon. Mark Steyn notes the ceiling on our 15 trillion dollar debt has already expanded to the moon.
I got the idea for this one from the 1902 silent movie A Trip to the Moon by Georges Melies – not that I’m a film buff, but the man in the moon picture is pretty famous.
More Savings
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Among the savings on offer, is a jillion dollars by not fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A few weeks ago a NASA scientist speculated that we could be attacked by aliens upset about global warming – really. So far, it hasn’t happened. More savings for you.
Nasa Needs a Ride Board
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Having abandoned the Space Shuttle by the side of the galaxy, NASA relied on the kindness of Russians for transportation to the International Space Station. Bad move. While NASA minds contemplated the finer points of alien attack (not involving relatives of the president), a Russian Soyuz blew up, leaving the space station lost in space.
Wrong Stuff
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In his State of the Union, Obama referred to our Sputnik moment. It was an attempt to rally the nation to “win the future” or do something or other. The one thing it was not was an attempt to deprive the Russians of a monopoly on manned space travel.
Mission: Moon, Mars, Muslims
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Thought this was a parody when I first saw it. NASA chief, Charles Bolden, says Obama’s foremost charge to him is to help Muslim nations feel good about their historic contribution to science, math and engineering. Here’s the whole interview on Al Jazeera. And here’s Charles Lane in the Washington Post with more links.
Variation on the theme 
Wrong Stuff
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Neil Armstrong feels Obama has made a giant leap in the wrong direction by canceling the NASA Constellation program. The president says he’s still spending astronomical sums on space and plans on a mars landing by the mid 2030s. A convenient getaway before social security goes broke in 2041.
Walter Cronkite RIP
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Walter Cronkite made his giant leap to eternity during the week of the 40th anniversary of the first real moonwalk. The most trusted man in America was closely identified with the moon landing. Here’s an interesting column by Howard Kurtz about the change in the media since then.
Hubble Trouble
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Stripped bolts and stuck socket wrenches… now there’s a mission I can identify with. Except when they were finished, the shuttle astronauts didn’t have any parts left over. What happens if you spray WD40 in space?