Back to the Moon

[sbisson]

Apparently, Pres. Bush will shortly announce plans for a permanent moonbase and a manned Mars mission.

Sounds like a recipe for an Allen Steele or a Ben Bova future. Which, to be honest, isn't such a bad thing - even if I do want to live in a Michael Flynn tomorrow...

Comments

[the-gardener.livejournal.com]

Everyone should try to contain their excitement, I think. The real (probably) reason for the intended announcement will be to divert public attention from policy failures elsewhere -- just as JFK announced a commitment to a manned Moon landing in the wake of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1963.

As others have pointed out, the USA probably hasn't the budget for this sort of stuff. In addition, Dubya and his advisers are reportedly not very interested in space exploration; it's something they're prepared to spend money on from time time to keep the scientist happy, but no farther.

[the-gardener.livejournal.com]

"Scientists", I should have said.

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

As Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George the Elder discovered, if all else fails and it looks as if you're going to lose the next election, you can always make promises to the Trekkies you have absolutely no intention of keeping, and they'll buy that jive bullshit every time.

A Trekkie's for life...

[muninnhuginn]

In a fit of blinding literal-mindedness I somehow read this as implying that Bush had pet Trekkies he now wishes to dispose of! I'm not sure which is more disturbing: the thought of pet Trekkies at the White House or abandoned pets wandering the streets. Sighs.

Is the "space exploration gambit" in the US the equivalent of the "shocking royal revelations in the press"--often used to blind folk to either governmental shortcomings or a piece of chicanery they'd rather not have us notice?