Failure to launch: The destruction of the US Space program

I always loved space. When I was in P1/P2 I would crumple up aluminum foil to make them look like astroid and played them together with my Apollo die-cast figures. I wanted to learn science in P3 (and excelled at it, mind you) because I want to learn about the stars, about planets, about the vast frontier of space. I mean, I knew about the Voyager missions, the Gallieo mission to jupiter, and even remembered the 2 Mars Expeditionary Rover's names- Spirit and Opportunity. Hack, I even checked the Cassini probe's website to see if there are new pretty pictures of Saturn, its ring and the moons. Funny thing is, I knew being an astronaut was impossible in Singapore so I opted to want to fly planes instead, which I still dream of today. 

It shouldn't effect people this much, but whenever I look at the world's leading space program, I feel anger and sadness. Its as though the US are destroying the 1 thing I still admire about them. Its heartbreaking.

So lets begin, shall we.

The Space Shuttle, the iconic space plane of the last few decades is going to be grounded any day now. That will live the US with no way to send their astronauts into space. This is pathetic, and its not because of the risks of the shuttle or the dangers of space itself. Its because of the most pathetic reason the could possibly be-

Politics.

The space shuttles are still flyable- they are not aging exceptionally fast or whatnot. The main reason they are being axed is because of the cost to fly spacecrafts into space, and the US treasury can't afford that. Never mind that the US military spends more money on air condition than NASA's allowance.

The entire half-century budget of NASA equals the current two year budget of the US military.

-Neil deGrasse Tyson

But more on that later. I am fine with the space shuttle retiring. What really gets me, is the stunning lack of a follow-up plan. Bush proposed a heavy lifter rocket to return to the moon. Obama axed that. Instead, the ideologue (Remember "Change", anyone?) now envision the US going to MARS. Fucking MARS.

And the entire project- all the work until than- scrapped. Years of planning gone. Hell, it took the REPUBLICANS, the exact same people threatening to wreck the US economy now to push Obama to at least let the blueprints survive.

And even if all debt problems are solved magically, I can assure you the next administration is going to axe it just like Obama did to Bush. And even if I accept that they will somehow get the will do do it, their plan is flawed to the point it won't even take off.

The new rocket ordered by the US congress is so grand; yet with NASA's current budget, it cannot happen, and you have NASA administrator Charles Bolden opposing that- keep in mind he needs every thing he gets. (read more)

I will be damned if the Americans will go to Moon in the next 20 years, much less the Mars.

Alright, human space exploration is out of the pictures. How about robots? We have been using them to explore the other planets for decades now! I mean, if there are no human astronauts, what about robots to inspire them?

I hear they are making the James Webb Space Telescope(JWST) to succeed the Hubble Space telescope. For those who don't know, practically every photo of stuff outside the Solar System has been taken by this 30 year old telescope. Its most famous is this:

There are literally thousands more. Google it. That single satellite has caused millions of children to get inspired by space and science (including me). Its the arguably greatest invention in the world.

So the JWST with its state of the art technology will be able to discover more, and inspire more minds, right.

(http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/07/07/congress-puts-nasa-and-jwst-on-the-chopping-block/)

FUCK. FFFFUUUUCCCCKKKKKKKK.

If you cancel the thing which inspire people, convince people that Space and science are worth looking into, than what type of fucking space program is that? Its not only the US- the when the whole world wants to know what Space looks like, they ask the US. Destroying NASA would mean destroying whatever moral high ground they have left- because "spreading democracy" is so clearly not working for them. 

Its not the American public, its their cocked up political system, but that's another post. If America wants to regain its status as the world's best country, they need science, cause at this rate, China is going to beat them- they have political will to prove to the world. The US don't because they already believe they rule the world.

/End rant.