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2004-10-05 Home Front: Tech

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Posted by Atomic Conspiracy 2004-10-05 6:12:12 AM|| || Front Page|| [11131 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Luddite media-slave soundbite: "Why should we spend all that money on space when we have so many problems right here?"

To begin with, I have never met anyone who said this who knew within an order of magnitude just how much was budgeted for space how this compared to, say, food stamps (about the same) or farm subsidies (twice as much as space) or defense (typically twenty times as much and much more these days).

Secondly, it is not possible to spend money in space as opposed to "right here." From the luddites' phrasing, you would suppose that we stuff spacecraft with diamonds and neogtiable bonds and shoot them off into the void. In fact, there are no contractors or facilities or banks on Mars or in the Asteroid belt (at least not yet), it is all spent on Earth.

Thirdly, spaceflight exists ultimately for the sole purpose of benefiting the human race by assuring its survival, and there are many short-term benefits as well. The average proudly myopic media slave is not obliged to acknowledge this but it is nevertheless quite real and documented.

Reflexive peaceniks like GnawAn'Pis deplore the existence of "spy satellites," for example.
They are either too ignorant or; more likely, too dishonest; to acknowledge that these very systems make comprehensive arms control agreements possible. Of course, they claim that is our fault if are threatened and that we can assure peace only by "trusting others" and "acknowledging our mistakes" (as the dictators, terrorists, and power-freak authoritarians see them) that is, abject surrender.
This would naturally result in totalitarians and terrorist slave-masters gaining absolute world dominance. The peaceniks cannot possibly be stupid enough not to know that. It is, in fact, their objective. It could not be more clear that they are not for peace, they are for the other side.

Posted by Atomic Conspiracy 2004-10-05 6:48:14 AM|| 2004-10-05 6:48:14 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 "Gordo, who's the best pilot you ever saw?"

Posted by Shipman 2004-10-05 7:38:45 AM|| 2004-10-05 7:38:45 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 I think the last lines of "The Right Stuff" are a fitting memorial:

"...'OH, LORD,WHAT A HEAVENLY LIGHT'...THE MERCURY PROGRAM WAS OVER. FOUR YEARS LATER, ASTRONAUT GUS GRISSOM WAS KILLED,ALONG WITH ASTRONAUTS WHITE AND CHAFFEE WHEN FIRE SWEPT THROUGH THEIR APOLLO CAPSULE. BUT ON THAT GLORIOUS DAY IN MAY, 1963,
GORDO COOPER WENT HIGHER,FARTHER, AND FASTER THAN ANY OTHER AMERICAN. 22 COMPLETE ORBITS AROUND THE WORLD.

HE WAS THE LAST AMERICAN EVER TO GO INTO SPACE ALONE.

AND FOR A BRIEF MOMENT,GORDO COOPER BECAME
THE GREATEST PILOT ANYONE HAD EVER SEEN."

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2004-10-05 7:42:26 AM|| 2004-10-05 7:42:26 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Hell, at this point in time, we can't even replicate what Cooper did in his Mercury capsule, let alone send humans to the moon. How the mighty have fallen.

Posted by Weird Al 2004-10-05 9:54:38 AM|| 2004-10-05 9:54:38 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 Several Russians have made manual reentries but they all missed their landing zone.... Gordo said he decided to miss the Kearsage at the last minute.

Posted by Shipman 2004-10-05 10:28:59 AM|| 2004-10-05 10:28:59 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 Rest in Peace, Gordo!

Posted by BigEd 2004-10-05 11:18:59 AM|| 2004-10-05 11:18:59 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 Gordo: "You're lookin' at him!"

Posted by mojo 2004-10-05 11:29:02 AM|| 2004-10-05 11:29:02 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 I loooooove "the Right stuff". Watched it six or seven times. Last one was two weeks ago.

Posted by JFM 2004-10-05 2:28:11 PM|| 2004-10-05 2:28:11 PM|| Front Page Top

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