Should we be rushing back into space?

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 02/16/2017 at 18:46 • Filed to: Planelopnik, Spacelopnik

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NASA

Perhaps in an effort to emulate John F. Kennedy, and to have something to crow about during what he hopes is just his first term, President Donald Trump is pushing NASA to accelerate the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (SLS) program to include astronauts on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! first launch. NASA had originally planned for the first launch, Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1), scheduled for late 2018, to be an unmanned mission that would orbit the Moon and return. They planned to follow that with EM-2 several years later, after Trump’s first year in office, during the first term of his successor, should he not be re-elected. Bowing to the pressure from the White House, acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot sent a letter to NASA employees, instructing them to investigate the feasibility of including astronauts on EM-1.

Let’s not forget what happened the last time NASA succumbed to pressure to launch. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . I have a tremendous amount of respect for NASA and, over the course of the entire manned space program from Mercury to the Space Shuttle, they have completed hundreds of launches with what could be considered an astonishingly small loss of life for such dangerous endeavors and the numbers of astronauts launched into space. I just hope that, under pressure from a president who only seeks a feather in his cap, NASA doesn’t make a decision that could put astronauts’ lives in danger.

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The text of Lightfoot’s letter:

Good morning! As I’ve discussed before, we continue working closely with the transition team. The members of the team are excited to be a part of this great agency and everyone is committed to keeping you informed of developments. I know you’ve been reading a lot in the media and hearing from colleagues about what may or may not be our future direction. I want you to know that when those decisions are made, you’ll hear it from me.

From my interactions with the transition team, NASA is clearly a priority for the President and his administration. Since most of you weren’t able to join me today at the Space Launch System/Orion Suppliers Conference, I wanted to share what I told that group. I told them how critical their work is to our future — to the nation’s future and our next giant leaps in exploration.

I shared that we’ve already hit a lot of milestones, and the next ones are on the close horizon. It’s a testament to your hard work that we were able to say that last year, and we’re confidently able to say it again this year.

The magnitude of what we’re doing with SLS and Orion is incredible, as are the capabilities we’re creating for this nation, which will take humans farther than we ever have before.

At NASA, we’re leveraging the very best the country has to offer on this work, and it’s advancing the national economy.

As the Acting Administrator, my perspective is that we are on the verge of even greater discoveries. President Trump said in his inaugural address that we will “unlock the mysteries of space.” Accordingly, it is imperative to the mission of this agency that we are successful in safely and effectively executing both the SLS and Orion programs.

Related to that, I have asked Bill Gerstenmaier to initiate a study to assess the feasibility of adding a crew to Exploration Mission-1, the first integrated flight of SLS and Orion. I know the challenges associated with such a proposition, like reviewing the technical feasibility, additional resources needed, and clearly the extra work would require a different launch date. That said, I also want to hear about the opportunities it could present to accelerate the effort of the first crewed flight and what it would take to accomplish that first step of pushing humans farther into space. The SLS and ORION missions, coupled with those promised from record levels of private investment in space, will help put NASA and America in a position to unlock those mysteries and to ensure this nation’s world pre-eminence in exploring the cosmos.

There has been a lot of speculation in the public discourse about NASA being pulled in two directions — what has come before and what we want to do now. At NASA, this is an “and” proposition, not an “or.” To get where we want to go, we need to work with the companies represented at the SLS and Orion suppliers conference AND those industry partners that work with us in other areas across the country — all of whom have the long-term view on this work. We must work with everyone to secure our leadership in space — and we will.

This is indeed an exciting time for our agency, and I know all of us share in this enthusiasm. I admire your passion and energy, and I want you to know how important you are to the success of the team and to the future of NASA. Your innovation and creative thinking will drive America’s influence in the coming years and decades.

Stay focused. Thanks for all you are doing every day, and I will share more with you in future updates.

Jayhawk Jake > ttyymmnn 02/16/2017 at 18:49

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I like a high level push for progress, I don’t like a politician driving decisions of a highly technical program they have no experience in.

Hopefully NASA does right by their people.

ttyymmnn > Jayhawk Jake 02/16/2017 at 18:50

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I edited to include Lightfoot’s letter to NASA employees.

ttyymmnn > ttyymmnn 02/16/2017 at 18:50

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Kennedy was right to push, but he left the final pushing up to NASA. As it should be.

TheHondaBro > ttyymmnn 02/16/2017 at 18:52

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I bet he just wants to launch immigrants into space.

BorkBorkBjork > ttyymmnn 02/16/2017 at 19:11

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If the push has a corresponding funding increase, then by all means, get us back into space so we can stop paying the Ruskies to hitchhike.

If it does not, then the plan needs to go ahead as scheduled.

I was always under the impression that the engineering behind the SLS was low risk, iterative, and effectively complete, and funding was the only real issue. If that’s the case why wait?

OPPOsaurus WRX > ttyymmnn 02/16/2017 at 19:12

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Earf ain’t getting any bigger. We gutta Terra form that shit.

I’d also like to see a rover/probe on that moon with geysers

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > ttyymmnn 02/16/2017 at 19:17

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I am all for a push for progress and providing the needed funding but pushing for a crew on the first flight is a bad idea. When space vehicles go wrong they tend to go very wrong.

RallyWrench > ttyymmnn 02/16/2017 at 19:21

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You mean, should we be Russian into space? I’ll see myself out.

We should by all means push back into space, but it should by no means be rushed. If Presidents want to set challenges (like Kennedy), that’s great, like a carrot before a horse. But don’t force them, and for F’s sake give them the money they need to meet those goals and maintain the excellent research they do in fields other than space travel.

facw > ttyymmnn 02/16/2017 at 19:25

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Honestly I’m OK with it. If NASA opened up the seats on their unmanned test mission to volunteers, they’d have no shortage of applicants despite the high risks. Past test pilots have dealt with extreme risks, and of course we routinely risk the lives of members of our military and others. If it is important (and I think it is), we should push forward. We shouldn’t be cavalier about safety, but especially with NASA’s limited budget, we can’t afford to be extremely cautious either.

MrDakka > ttyymmnn 02/16/2017 at 20:27

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Get the funding guaranteed for follow-up missions first. Then light the fires

DipodomysDeserti > ttyymmnn 02/16/2017 at 22:20

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These don’t believe in the validity of the scientific method, but they want to launch people into space? Jesus.

NJAnon > ttyymmnn 02/16/2017 at 22:22

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Back to the Moon again? idk, Id rather have more future tech available so we could actually go farther than the brightest rock we can see at night. Plus we still know less about our oceans than we do space.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > ttyymmnn 02/16/2017 at 22:30

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Funny how drumpf wants space, but you need science for that! Picking and choosing I guess. There are some very valuable things to learn and mine out there within reach.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > TheHondaBro 02/16/2017 at 22:36

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In big(ly) way.

ttyymmnn > DipodomysDeserti 02/16/2017 at 22:46

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It’ll be okay because it’s wonderful. Fantastic. Really great people at NASA.

ttyymmnn > NJAnon 02/16/2017 at 22:47

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Don’t worry. Trump wants to be on Mars by his second term. Just don’t tell him how long it will take to get there.

DipodomysDeserti > ttyymmnn 02/16/2017 at 22:58

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Bigly minds over there at NASA.

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 02/17/2017 at 11:47

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Decades after the fact, I am still astonished that our Apollo program and its antecedents were carried off as safely as they were. People were inventing brand new tech on the fly just to make things possible. It really makes you believe that we can do anything if we put enough of ourselves into it.

I think having a president really push to space program forward is great. But, it has to get the national will behind it and be accompanied by funding. Boy oh boy, think of what a modern space race would do to create generations of engineers and scientists in our country at a time when science education has fallen to the back burner.

ttyymmnn > Chariotoflove 02/17/2017 at 12:14

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Agreed on all points. But, what is lacking now, I think, is the sense of awe that we had back in 1961. We are so jaded and distracted, it would be hard to get everybody excited. Maybe that’s why Mars should be our target, not the Moon. But where is the money going to come from? Trump’s military build up is going to be astronomically expensive. The GOP can kiss any chance of a balanced budget goodbye without any kind of a tax increase. And you know who will bear the burden of that.

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 02/17/2017 at 13:40

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When I look around and see the thriving market for space movies and media, I can’t believe we don’t have a sense of wonder. Maybe a sense of futility among some? I think what we are lacking as a society is a sense of purpose and destiny to galvanize us. People tend to credit Kennedy for inspiring the moon push, but all he really did was tap into the extant undercurrent of national pride and the desire to beat the Russians, er al. What do we have to motivate us as a nation now? If we had that, I suspect that budget wouldn’t worry people as much.