Buzz Aldrin Pressures Obama For New Space Exploration Initiative

MarkWhittington writes: While he has initiated the social media campaign, #Apollo45, to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the first moon landing, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin is also using the occasion to campaign for an expansion of American space exploration. According to a Tuesday story in the Washington Post, Aldrin has expressed the wish that President Obama make some sort of announcement along those lines this July 20. The idea has a certain aspect of deja vu. Aldrin believes that the American civil space program is adrift and that some new space exploration, he prefers to Mars, would be just the thing to set it back on course. There is only one problem, however. President Obama has already made the big space exploration announcement. Aldrin knows this because he was there. President Obama flew to the Kennedy Space Center on April 15, 2010, with Aldrin accompanying as a photo op prop, and made the announcement that America would no longer be headed back to the moon, as was the plan under his predecessor George W. Bush. Instead American astronauts would visit an Earth approaching asteroid and then, decades hence, would land on Mars.

It's the right thing to do.

[B33rNinj4]

I'm all for having a thriving, privatized space program. However, we still need the government to be involved and run their own end. We'll never get anywhere if we rely on just one side.

Obama is gone in less than 2 years.

[Anonymous Coward]

We Americans want to feel big and tough from our couches. We want to see our military kick the shit out some other "evil" country from the comforts of our homes, sitting on our fat asses in front of the big China made screen TV.

Science? Space? That's for the godless "elites".

Spending money on idiotic wars is fine.

Spending a small fraction of that on space is a "waste".

We Americans are like my alcoholic uncle. Bitches to his kids to turn off the lights when not in the room - even the fish tank has to be turned off - but he spends his money on booze and doesn't see the problem.

If we spent the resources that were litteraly blown up in wars on space, we would have been to Mars and have all that technology and prestige of having sent people to Mars.

Nope, we're known for killing people, being bullies, and for being a bunch of scientifically illiterate Bible thumping morons.

Fuck! I'm cranky this morning!

Re:Obama is gone in less than 2 years.

[mtthwbrnd]

Obama might find a way to stay around. Or his handlers might. He is the most useful idiot they have had so far.

Actually scratch that, you know what we need? A woman! Last time around I voted for the black guy, this time I'm voting for a woman. Gooooooo ME! I am like, so liberated! After that I will vote for a gay guy. And then a lesbian.

Policies? Oh, who cares about policies!

Re:It's the right thing to do.

[c4t3l]

It's easy to turn this into a mudslinging match... But the truth is that NASA has the most experience in this field. Passive-aggressive comments like this only serve to derail the discussion. So let's keep it more college and less 8th grade eh?

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Remember ALF?! He's back. In pog form!

Re:Wrong initiative, enough of space.

[c4t3l]

I gotta disagree with you bud. An entire generation of folks were inspired by the Apollo program to dream and become todays scientists/engineers etc. The world NEEDS lofty goals like this. I think that too many folks focus on "What NASA got us" and not on the value of the less tangible items (inspiration and willingness to push the envelope of human acheivement).

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