The Russians will have a monopoly on low earth orbit. Charles Krauthammer:
Obama votes present again. But we won't have a presence in space.But the Obama 2011 budget kills Constellation. Instead, we shall have nothing. For the first time since John Glenn flew in 1962, the U.S. will have no access of its own for humans into space -- and no prospect of getting there in the foreseeable future.
Of course, the administration presents the abdication as a great leap forward: Launching humans will now be turned over to the private sector, while NASA's efforts will be directed toward landing on Mars.
This is nonsense. It would be swell for private companies to take over launching astronauts. But they cannot do it. It's too expensive. It's too experimental. And the safety standards for actually getting people up and down reliably are just unreachably high.
1 comment:
Now wait a minute. When it comes to tax dollars being used to provide health care for every American, that's a ridiculous waste of money, let the private sector handle it. However, we should totally be using tax dollars to keep people in low earth orbit, to no discernable benefit.
Are you even trying to be consistent?
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