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apl4eris
~ Abstract Brain ~
USA
4800 Posts |
 Posted - 10/28/2003 : 23:12:06
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Holy moly!!!
The man of Frank Black "Robert Onion" legend, Mr. Robert Zubrin, will be testifying before the Senate Commerce Committee, at the invitation of Senator John McCain, to plead the case for the future of the US space program the morning of Oct. 29 (today).
http://www.marssociety.org/
"On the invitation of Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Mars Society president Robert Zubrin will present testimony to the full Senate Commerce Committee of Oct. 29 on the subject of the future of the US space program. The hearing will begin Oct. 29 at 9:30 AM in Russell Senate Office Bldg room 253. NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and former Associate Administrator for Space Science Wes Huntress will also be testifying.
Zubrin's invitation to testify follows a series of meetings that Mars Society members have conducted with Congressmen and Senatorial staff all over the nation, asking for a destination-driven space program with Mars as its goal. In contacting Dr. Zubrin, Senator's McCain's staff also expressed great interest in the arguments presented by the Mars Society president in his op-ed "Two Roads for NASA," published in the Oct. 6 issue of space News and reprinted below...."
If you want to want to voice your opinions on the future of the US space program, please send an email or a fax ASAP to Senator McCain:
fax:
(202) 228-2862
email:
john_mccain@mccainsenate.gov |
Edited by - apl4eris on 10/29/2003 09:44:41 |
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glacial906
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1738 Posts |
Posted - 10/28/2003 : 23:29:31
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I don't know if I have enough knowledge about the space exploration program and NASA to e-mail Senator McCain, but on my somewhat basic level I wholeheartedly believe that we should continue in it full force. It seems like a major aspect of our humanity - to explore - that is very neglected, and comes waaaay after alot of other things. Right after the Challenger disaster, and more recently the Columbia, space exploration is scrutinized as being too dangerous, because of loss of life. Well, not to sound callous, but our history is replete with instances where human lives have been lost in the name of exploration. I was surprised on my trip out to Vegas that the Hoover Dam was built with like, ninety something people losing their lives, back in the first half of the twentieth century. Human progress is always going to entail sacrifice. (Please don't think I'm minimizing the lives lost in the space shuttle disasters, but every major effort that humanity has ever taken to better themselves or explore has tradgedy of this nature.)
I'm all for a manned space flight to Mars, it seems like a success would garner alot of general interest in the future of space exploration. Apl, did you ever read "Voyage" by Stephen Baxter? I bet you'd like it. It's an alternate-history where humans reach Mars by 1986. Kennedy was not successfully assassinated, and his endorsement of NASA allowed humans to achieve this goal. (But they sacrificed too, realistically -- they never made it to the moon, instead choosing to concentrate their resources on the more long-term goal of Mars.) It's pretty good.
I wonder if in the future there will be more privately-funded space exploration from non-federal sources. Like, businesses trying to fund projects in space. Does the government impose laws on that? In the beginning, when spaceflight began, there wouldn't have been too many people or businesses that could've done their own spaceflight, but now, with major corporations like Honda making robots, and computer software companies, it seems like some of them could actually make it. (Like I said, I might be talkin' out my ass here if there's some pertinent piece of info I don't know about!) |
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apl4eris
~ Abstract Brain ~
USA
4800 Posts |
Posted - 10/28/2003 : 23:44:56
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Oh! Cool, I totally agree with your views about sacrifice and risk for exploration - it is not unique to the space program at all. I think people tend to use the risk and cost as a foil for their disappointment in the fact that they will probably never get anything personally from it - it can be easily seen as a bourgois elite's pet hobby. But ideally, if the exploration is directed mindfully, there are way too many possibilities for not only human understanding of the cosmos, but also of ourselves and the proper care of our planet (and all life on it).
Sorry for the little rant there - :)
I will look into the book you mentioned - I'll have to add it to my growing list of must buy/must read books (my wish list on amazon numbers about 168, and it's not my complete list - arrrg!).
There are companies that are developing rockets for earth orbit and beyond that are racing to compete for the X Prize! You should take a look, as you seem pretty interested...
http://www.xprize.com/teams/teams.html
http://stacks.msnbc.com/news/972554.asp?0sl=-23&cp1=1 |
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glacial906
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1738 Posts |
Posted - 10/28/2003 : 23:55:03
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| Those ships don't look very real to me, they look like something off the cover to a Ben Bova book or something. |
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apl4eris
~ Abstract Brain ~
USA
4800 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2003 : 00:02:02
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| Yeah, they're pretty scary, some of em! |
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