July 25, 2009

Post Armstrong

After my negative post yesterday, I thought that I may had been airing out only because I didn't make it to the auditorium. That was somewhat frustrating, but I'm still holding the same sentiment with a bit of defense. It seems like (because I hear it a good deal) that people think nothing has happened since 1969. Paraphrasing Obama, "NASA is no longer inspiring". Paraphrasing more familiar sentiment, "It's a waste of tax dollars."

A snip from this article:

The worst outcome of the Augustine effort would be the status quo – where NASA continues to be tasked to do too much with too little. The ball is squarely in President Obama’s court. If he wants the inspirational space program he keeps talking about, he needs to make certain that the country, Congress, and his OMB Director knows that it is a priority and not expect that NASA magically will find a way to do it alone.

To temper this, I'll quote the last few messages from Mark The Sleeper Polansky:

In the midst of EVA 3. Intricate work to change huge batteries at the end of ISS.

Enjoying magnificent vistas of planet earth. What beauty. Hello Australia. Seattle in ~15 minutes.

Finished cycling around the world, & now looking at the Mid East. Japanese robotic arm work in 30 min.

Japanese payload successfully transferred using their robot arm. 2nd in work.

A very long day today, but very successful. Floating next door for dinner w/the neighbors.

Maybe Neil Armstrong meant it *is*. That is, it *is* inspiring *now*. Don't let them get you down.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Alternatively, if President Obama does not care enough about the space program to adequately fund it, let's find that out now.

-Good luck with getting a straight, consistent answer on something this important.

Anonymous said...

Strike that...don't mean to be negative...Sorry

Keith said...

Don't be sorry!

Mark Polansky wrote four hours ago, "Hatches are closed and we’re about 2 hrs from leaving ISS."

They land on the 31st.