[FPSPACE] editorial about Apollo 8 and the current condition ofNASA

[Jens Kieffer-Olsen]

Maybe our entire fpspace audience should explore the cost of a winter's
online
tuition in Chinese? Do taikonauts speak Mandarin or Cantonese, or do they 
master both?
 
--
Jens Kieffer-Olsen
Slagelse, Denmark
 
PS.
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an
environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive,
gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within
the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or
secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular
persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice
religious or secular traditions at all.  I also wish you a fiscally
successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of
the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2009, but not without due
respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to
civilization have helped make our world so great. Also, this wish is made
without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious
faith or sexual preference of the wishee. 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Charles Vick [mailto:cpvick at globalsecurity.org] 
Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2008 11:10 PM
To: 'Peter Pesavento'; fpspace at friends-partners.org
Subject: Re: [FPSPACE] editorial about Apollo 8 and the current condition
ofNASA



We are back in the Carter administration all over again and what we have and
are being forced to except is..much worse than desirable. As Pike and others
said "the destruction of US manned spaceflight" is what is being seeded with
no viable alternatives passing muster ...

 

-----Original Message-----
From: fpspace-bounces at friends-partners.org
[mailto:fpspace-bounces at friends-partners.org] On Behalf Of Peter Pesavento
Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2008 3:15 PM
To: fpspace at friends-partners.org
Subject: [FPSPACE] editorial about Apollo 8 and the current condition of
NASA

 

>From the (UK) Telegraph:

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/39030
72/Nasa-future-in-doubt-as-space-agency-marks-Moon-mission-anniversary.html

 


Nasa future in doubt as space agency marks Moon mission anniversary 


The 40th anniversary of Nasa's first manned mission to the Moon is being
overshadowed by doubts over the future of its space programme. 


By Toby Harnden in Washington 
Last Updated: 2:44PM GMT 23 Dec 2008

US astronauts at the international space station will on Wednesday honour
the first crew to circumnavigate the Moon. 

Members of the Expedition 18 crew have broadcast a video message from space
hailing the feats of the Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and
Bill Anders, who began their circumnavigation of the Moon on Dec 24, 1968,
after a 238,000-mile trip. 

The voyage, during which photographs of the earth were taken, set the stage
for the first moon landing by the Apollo 11, led by Neil Armstrong, who
became the first man to walk on the moon on July 20 1969. 

But a cloud hangs over the Constellation programme, the successor to the
Space Shuttle, which was designed to set up a permanent manned base on the
Moon by 2020 and then launch missions to Mars. 

Tensions between Michael Griffin, the Nasa administrator, and
President-Elect Barack Obama's transition team have boiled over into heated
public exchanges amid reports of rising costs and mission delays. 

In March, Mr Obama said: "I grew up on Star Trek. I believe in the final
frontier." 

But he expressed dismay about the way the space shuttle programme was being
run and said funding would be cut until mission objectives were more clear. 

"Nasa has lost focus and is no longer associated with inspiration," he said.
"I don't think our kids are watching the space shuttle launches. It used to
be a remarkable thing. It doesn't even pass for news anymore." 

Mr Obama had earlier raised the possibility of delaying Constellation, based
on President George W Bush's 2004 "Vision for Space Exploration", for five
years as a way of boosting education funding. With Florida playing a key
role in the US election, he later proposed $2 billion in extra funding for
Nasa and endorsed a lunar mission by 2010. 

But questions from Obama transition officials about costs, have led some in
Nasa to conclude that the incoming president will scrap Constellation and
with it hopes of sending humans back to the Moon. 

 

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