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Last Post 4/16/2010 11:49 AM by  Pat Reiff
moon program
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Anonymous





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4/14/2010 12:17 PM

    chris j

    what are your feelings about nasa's return to the moon program being cancelled?

    Tags: Moon, Mars, asteroid, spaceflight

    KD Leka



    Basic Member


    Posts:115
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    4/14/2010 6:37 PM

    Wow, I'm not sure I want to comment -- I think it is a bit concerning for privatebusiness to take on something as big and complex as this kind of project, but I also support that trying to do the job in a continually underfunded environment is also potentially disasterous. I worked for a few years with the Space Radiation Analysis Group at Johnson Space Center on trying to figure out how to predict solar flares (thus helping to protect astronauts from them). It was a nice thing to have that motivation for our work, and I can imagine that effort will be seriously de-scoped now.


    Kris Sigsbee



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    Posts:415
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    4/15/2010 10:09 AM

    Hi Chris,

    Human spaceflight, such as the Apollo missions to the Moon and the Space Shuttle Program, were some of the things that got me interested in science and engineering careers. In some ways, I am disappointed that this program was cancelled. However, I think the decision to cancel this program was probably overdue. Many experts on human spaceflight and scientists felt that the program was ill-conceived and under-funded. The restructuring of NASA that took place several years ago to accomodate the Return to the Moon program shifted the focus of this agency and meant that some of NASA's successful science programs would not receive as much funding as anticipated. I would love to see astronauts return to the Moon and eventually travel to Mars, but only if these missions are motivated by science, not politics. Unfortunately, given the current economic situation, I do not think that the United States currently has the resources to pursue these goals alone, without the help of other nations.

    Kris


    Pat Reiff



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    Posts:83
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    4/16/2010 11:49 AM
    The latest news from President Obama yesterday is that he does want to send humans to an asteroid first, then Mars orbit, then Mars landing. He just plans to skip the moon because "we've been there already". Of course our technology has improved in the past 41 years, so we would still learn a lot from going back to the Moon, but going to an asteroid would be exciting too.
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