Republican Candidates hate NASA

[n2doc]

Republican presidential candidates agree: No more federal money for human space flight
The Republican presidential field sent a clear message to NASA workers in Texas and Florida: They don’t see a federal role in funding human space flight.

The unanimous verdict came during a New Hampshire presidential debate tonight and following a scathing assessment of NASA management by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.

“NASA has become an absolute case study in why bureaucracy cannot innovate,” he said. “What we have is bureaucracy after bureaucracy, failure after failure.”

Gingrich, a longtime supporter of space research, said the private sector and not government should lead the nation into the future of space innovation.

http://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2011/06/republican-presidential-candidates-agree-no-more-federal-money-for-human-space-flight/

Ahh, privatization. Worked out so well in so many other areas!

Newt, you certainly would know about "failure after failure"

[trotsky]

1. I was surprised to learn that too.

I guess having two Mars rovers put together for a measly few million and having them last what, 10 times the expected lifetime, is SUCH an innovative disappointment.

"the private sector and not government should lead the nation into the future of space innovation"

Yeah, that's why the private sector got us to the moon. Oh, wait...

[dimbear]

6. In 1945 the Germans were probably 20 years ahead of us in the space race,

thanks to their massive government program at Peenemunde. Our private program in 1945 was at, um, zero.

That's in spite of the fact that we invented the liquid fuel rocket.

Luckily we captured the German government program, split it with the Russians, and went on from there.

(Well, not really split it. The German rocketeers that could reach our lines did and the rest, the slower ones, 'went to Russia.')

[Lionel Mandrake]

8. Yes, we got the best Nazis for our space program,

including Sturmbannführer Wernher von Braun, who wore his SS uniform whenever Heinrich Himmler dropped by to see how the work was going.



The Russians got the leftover Nazis.

[FSogol]

2. NASA keeps throwing the "theory" that the earth is round in their faces.

Also, that the earth orbits the sun, not vice versa like the Bible tells them.


Wish we had a government agency for evolution. ;)

[Johonny]

3. the thing is we tried this already and it failed

under Newt we tried to limit government restrictions and regulation of private space contractors. The result was mission failures. No one in the military, NASA or private companies wishes to return to that era of failure. So why do Republicans?

[pscot]

4. Of course they do

it's all sciency and and stuff, and hard to understand.

[Orsino]

5. It's because of our huge budget surplus...

...that the GOP would like to outsource space jobs to more expensive, for-profit companies. Why not redistribute all that wealth. they figure?

[Lionel Mandrake]

7. Even Republicans get it right once in a while.

"No more federal money for human space flight".

I agree, but not because I think private industry will do a better job. I think human space flight is a very expensive PR stunt that yields very little scientific knowledge.

IMO the best part of NASA is JPL, which concentrates on robotic, not human, space flight. Robotic space missions are the only kind that make sense to me for the foreseeable future. Republicans would probably like to privatize them as well, but here we part company.

[sudopod]

11. If you took what you think and some ham you could make a ham and cheese sandwich

if you had some cheese.

[krispos42]

9. Yeah, because now that we're awash in rocket scientists...

... that learned everything they know, as well as science, technology and materials, from either NASA, the DoD, or the contractors working for NASA or the DoD, the "private sector" can now storm ahead.

:eyes:

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

10. ...and who wants to work as a rocket scientist in private industry?

The "free market" would suck if you were working in R&D. Government scientists can do their research without the pressure to make a profit, and the constant awareness that your job was on the line every day you walked in the door. because your employer falls apart.