NASA legend Buzz Aldrin voices concerns about moon rocket

Just four years after President Bush announced his vision to send astronauts back to the moon and then on to Mars, legendary astronaut Buzz Aldrin is leading an effort to re-examine the whole idea -- in ...

[observer]

Obama is totally ignorant about our space program. If we wait too long, we will have to ask the Chinese for permission to land on the Moon. But Obama is totally ignorant about a quality education program as well. Back in the JFK era, the space program was a major driver for high quality education from grade school up through university science and engineering programs. Obama will NEVER grasp how this works.

[observer]

But the JFK era was before the dumbing-down of education made necessary by affirmative action.

[Jim Dandy]

Both of you are correct. Some of the kids can't even find Earth. America is now on the skids because of this. We trashed a very good concept and that was competition and motivation among students. Everything is on an even keel now. No matter how motivated you are still on the same level as the student who will not learn.

[Jack MiHoffe]

Leave space exploration to the private sector where it belongs. Obama is right; where he's wrong is in wanting to use the money for something else the federal government shouldn't be involved in ....

[Id like sousasseesss]

This is an example of how badly some people speak. This how they order a pizza with sausage on it.
Some of these people speak so poorly they can hardly be understood.
Pass them along. Pass them along.

[Calico Cat]

Isn't it a shame that the same financial backing, congressional backing, enthusiasm, etc. etc. about going to the moon doesn't exist for simply insuring that our Nation become energy self sufficient and able to do without foreign crude oil importation? Going to the moon is a "Nice to have" but becoming energy self sufficient as soon as possible in any intelligent person's mind is a "Must Have". How does one get elected to Congress without "Priorities 101" ?

[Peer One]

Gee, maybe if the Cheney/Bush pirates hadn't pillaged through the surplus that was there, when they came into office; maybe we could properly or at least partially have funded NASA, the education budget and defense contracts. Guess that senseless war and big government contracts for their redneck oil and hunting buddies was more important, though.

[David Collins]

The First Amendment protects your right to free speech. But that's a protection from government censorship. It doesn't give you the right to post offensive language on a web site owned and operated by someone else. The Terms of Services explains what's allowed and what isn't at this site.

And you misspelled Sentinel.:-)

[RayGun]

Buzz is right. Ares is a disaster. They are planning on using thrusters firing in the opposite direction as the main engine to dampen out thrust oscillation. It might work however, the vehicle is already under-performing. We need a independent review. The Direct launcher uses mostly existing technology and would be flying sooner. Ares uses 2 new rocket motors that have not even been built yet. When they run into development troubles it will only increase the gap. During the 5 year and growing gap we will be spending billions of dollars riding Russian rockets to the International Space Station. NASA leadership has failed to use any common sense. Its time for Mike Griffin to be removed.

[Thomas Lee Elifritz]

Sorry that was

r e d n e c k h i l l b i l l y

r e t a r d r e t r o r o c k e t.

Ares I. God of War. Murka. Jethro.

Got it?

[Go Shuttle]

It's time to realize that NASA needs to keep the shuttle flying.
To shut it down without a replacement to so foolish.
Relying on the Russians.
JFK must be rolling in his grave.

[Lamar]

I cringed when I saw that Obama wants to shift money from NASA to the Dep't of Education.

[Hercolubus]

YouTube:
1) Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14, UFOs on the Moon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch...

2) Top Secret UFO NASA Tapes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch...

3) UFO confirmed in NASA Control Room:

http://www.youtube.com/watch...

4)Details

*** http://youtube.com/watch...

*** http://www.australia.to/story/0,25197,2304046...

[Thomas Lee Elifritz]

Direct supporters are equally clueless.

The problem is the PROGRAM, every single element of it, VSE, ESAS, Constellation, Ares, Orion, the entire thing is FRAUD.

If NASA wants war, war is what they'll get. Ares I is a slap in the face to all Americans, but Americans are so freaking dumb they just don't get it.

If Americans had a single iota of sense, they would have put lightweight crew capsules on both EELVs shortly after the Columbia disaster, but we all know now that Americans don't have a single iota of common sense, since they voted for George W. Bush twice, and elected idiot who somehow decided it would be expedient engineering to put a high energy upper stage on top of an inline SRB, when an SSME powered cryogenic stage is easily capable of attaining orbit on its own, or assisted with small kerosene boosters.

Reality is catching up to you war mongers, the war is already here.

http://webpages.charter.net/tsiolkovsky/

[mosco]

I thought this was going to be simple. The space station was started in 1983 from Reagan. They spent 8 billion dollars on paperwork and nothing materialized. This white elephant is still not built. There were a few shuttle successors started and abruptly stopped wasting billions more. But this one, I honestly believed that they would have kept the price down. I am so disappointed this time. How much is politics playing a role in this new system. after all of the other failures and the current one being built. The station should be completed and extra modules added if possible only because of what we paid already. If NASA people truly believe that the rocket systems envisioned are the best, then I have no issue after seeing the shuttle progression. Again, politics seem to rule our nation in government dealings and is worse during economic declines. May I suggest to NASA, let private concerns cut your costs. Hire astronauts where their families do not get paid big time for an accident. I only argue with you because of the waste of money. Your older astronauts over the years have made statements about getting into space cheaper. We should have been on Mars by now and maybe even orbiting Jupiter or further out. Instead, Morton Thiokol and other companies keep getting paid with a flawed but magnificent spacecraft that does less than a large booster costing less would of done. There were potentially great astronauts the last three decades that did good and could have been legendary stunted because of greed and stupidity.

[Winter Park Parent]

I'm sorry but I'm not a big proponent of all the billions of dollars spent on space exploration when we could be using the billions of dollars to save our earth, feed the hungry and take care of the homeless.

I just don't understand what the TRUE benefit of space exploration has meant to us here and how it has improved our quality of life. The only thing I see coming from space exploration is knowledge, which benefits the egos of men.

Am I way of base here???

[Mike]

Winter Park Parent wrote:

I'm sorry but I'm not a big proponent of all the billions of dollars spent on space exploration when we could be using the billions of dollars to save our earth, feed the hungry and take care of the homeless.
I just don't understand what the TRUE benefit of space exploration has meant to us here and how it has improved our quality of life. The only thing I see coming from space exploration is knowledge, which benefits the egos of men.
Am I way of base here???

I would suggest looking through these sites to see what the space program has provide besides just knowledge.

http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/

http://www.thespaceplace.com/nasa/spinoffs.ht...

[Mike]

The main difference between the US first landing on the moon and this time is for the moment, we have no one to compete against for getting there.

In the 60s we had evil communists that we had to beat to the moon. Especially since they beat us to putting something into orbit.

I am left hoping China puts some significant effort to get to the moon and beyond because it feels the only way the US will build the public backing and allocate the resources necessary.

[Thomas Lee Elifritz]

"Am I way off base here?"

Yeah. Way off. Consider for a moment 10 billion people on the planet Earth all wanting to live like BHollywood stars.

Get a grip. We live on a planet.

In space.

The problem is the rocket and the goal, and the method they chose.

This is another serious US failure.

The ramifications are not short term and superficial, these are serious, fundamental and very long term errors.

And from experience we know that the probability is very great that any perceived solutions of these errors will be even greater errors, with even greater long term adverse effects on America's ability to solve problems.

In other words, Direct as well.

[observer]

Mike wrote:

The main difference between the US first landing on the moon and this time is for the moment, we have no one to compete against for getting there.
In the 60s we had evil communists that we had to beat to the moon. Especially since they beat us to putting something into orbit.
I am left hoping China puts some significant effort to get to the moon and beyond because it feels the only way the US will build the public backing and allocate the resources necessary.

The Chinese plan to land a man on the Moon by 2024.