I think the Mars Announcement was just more hot air and distraction. The problem is that NASA does not seem to have noticed that their moment in the balmy glow of Rove's PR spotlight is over. They're busily rearranging the entire agency on the premise that there's a plan and commitment. Careers are being destroyed, billions of dollars already spent wasted. Same deal as "No Child Left Behind", and do Americans notice that the White House will be yanking NSF funding for science education? If bush gets another four years, NASA will be lucky to get to the local Stop-N-Go. Slippery George, the anti-Midas. :m: Peace.
Actually NASA is going to be keeping all those working for it now onboard with the new direction that it is heading. There will be some transitions as to whjat's being made and how it is done but the same personell will still be utilized to help build the new projct that have been there before. Where do you see them wanting to rid themselves of these talented people that took years to get where they are now? They are going to adapt them to a new direction but still doing what was originally on the drawing boards for the robotic missions to other planets. They just are shifting into a new area using what they know now into a new area of space research.
Cosmic, I think you are missing something. Bush has told NASA to gear up for a project that it can't afford, and he has no plans of paying for. These talented people will have their careers ruined when suddenly some review board in NASA sees that these great new projects that the president "championed" are not on schedule. If this plays out, and NASA goes along with this plan, and they don’t get a lot more money to do it with there is going to be a huge fallout inside NASA. The president was lying about going back to the moon and mars; he just wanted to have something to say that would get people excited, it being an election year and all. His past proves that he has very little willpower when it comes to lying to get you to believe what he needs you to believe so he can get what he wants. NASA won't be getting the funding it needs to get us to Mars and the moon. His $1 billion increase is laughable.
I guess only time will tell, but I really don't think the employees at NASA or their vendors will be leaving anytime soon.
As I predicted the program will be put on the back burner, the US will just have a new re-usable shuttle. I do see this thing failing, due to the massive budgetary pressures that the US will face over those next 15 years. This program is a program for a government in surplus not massive deficit that could put the US at current estimates up to $5 trillion in debt.
So then all the employees that are there now will be there for at least 10 to 15 years from now , if that is what your saying, because nothing is really changing.
What part of this situation eludes you Cosmic? Sure I think the folks at NASA should hang onto their ID badges through the weekend. Their offices will probably still be furnished next month, but the fact is that the president is giving them a mission and no funding, not to mention that with our current spending deficit NASA's existing funding is going to look mighty ripe for the slashing (Though Bush will probably wait for a Democrat to do that so the republicans can whine about how Dems hate science). For now its just education budges that get slashed in the "No Child Left Behind" bill, another deceptive name like "The defense of Marriage act" which attempts to prohibit gay marriage, or the "Clean Air Act" which allows industry to pollute more. Ugh, ok tangent. Bush is stopping NASA from doing their job of exploring space, and instead sending them on a quest to put a Mars in a timeframe they cannot meet with money they do not have. This is going to cause catastrophes in that agency. He is setting them up to take a fall so he can point to one thing that hasnt been a complete disaster during his administration.
For some sources, it has been noted that NASA has the capabilites to do some of the approatiate research within its funding. Boeing can develop the correct space capsule in oh, four years, and if the rest of the mars "commitee" can be just as efficient, there should be no problem. Some of the best work is done independently, away from federal programs anyway. Maybe we should ban NASA and spread its technology to corporations to develop. NASA sounds to me like communism on a small scale.
NASA was a great place , once upon a time, but during the Clinton administration it went downhill. Now new people are trying to straighten out the mess the former administrators left and are finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Bush has given a 5 percent increase in funding to NASA for at least the next 4 years so they are getting more to spend, just not as much as they want. They should stop whinning about what they get and try to make things better in their management areas as well as mid management. They lost the Challenger and a billion dollar Mars probe so they aren't ones to really be wanting to ask for more when they screw up so damn much!
It is the kiss of death for Bush to make a public announcement regarding your agency, dept. or organization. He appeared and praised a school for the handicapped here - the next day the funding was cut Same with the Veterans FW Same with a dozen other appearences Pray you don't see him at your job site.
