Bush's NASA nominee likens Hubble Telescope to Einstein, will scrap anyway

[Lone Pawn]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050412/ap_on_go_co/nasa_chief_1

"The United States needs to look in new directions and look beyond where we have been in the last several decades," Griffin said, stressing that the current space shuttle function of servicing the International Space Station did not qualify as a good risk for human space flight.

Bush's long-range plan has not received a warm reception on Capitol Hill, with lawmakers concerned that the costs of returning to the moon and beyond would necessitate sacrifices in other popular programs.

Several senators urged Griffin to take steps to resuscitate the Hubble Space Telescope, which is wearing down and will die unless costly and risky action is taken to save it.

Griffin said the knowledge of the universe gained from the Hubble compares to Einstein's theory of relativity, but, citing the costs of an unmanned fix, said he would "like to take the robotic mission off the table." He said he would reassess the possibility of a manned mission to the telescope after the shuttle flights are resumed.

Griffin also agreed with senators that there was an unacceptable gap between the planned retirement, no later than 2010, of the space shuttle, and the launch some five years later of the next-generation manned vehicle, called the Crew Exploration Vehicle.

So we have a NASA chief nominee who...

1. Wants to stop everything scientific NASA does for a useless, but cool-sounding Mars shot.

2. Acknowledges that the Hubble is the most popular thing NASA's done since Apollo, and the most scientifically impressive thing since its first satellite, but yet still wants to scrap it.

3. In his belief that the five-year manned-mission gap will threaten security, implies that he is in favor of militarizing space.

4. Wishes to withdraw from the ISS.

Good. Good. Nice to know that Bush has his sights on fucking up EVERY agency, regardless of how relevant it is to his agenda. Though I am surprised that he managed to find in the ISS one last international project the US is involved in that he could pull out of and/or screw over. I wouldn't have thought to look there! He certainly is efficient at unilateralism, I'll grant him that.

Up next? The Smithsonian is demolished for oil 'exploration,' and the National Archives replaced with The Patriotic Republican Archives!

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. Face it, because of Iraq, and bush in general, there isn't

any money to do any of this. Because of bush the USA has become a shit place.

[Lone Pawn]

2. *Sigh.* But we do have money to Go To Mars!

And in order to Go To Mars, we'll have to cut the budget. :crazy:

[Festivito]

5. That's only so in 20 years RebumliCONs can take credit for it.

The rest is just excuse for transferring our credit advances to Bush family and Bush supporters.

[Zenlitened]

3. Well, that there tel-ee-scope is the devil's work, anyway!

Makin' people think the universe is older'n what the bible sez!

[tridim]

4. Ding ding ding! We have a winner

That's exactly why they're killing the Hubble. As kooky as he is, Richard Hoagland should be NASA director.

[The Doctor.]

6. Becasue Hoagland will actually support some real fact-finding?

He may be too caught up in Cydonia, but then again he would be pro-active.

So we'll trash the Hubble while the Japanese establish a moon base...

http://aerospacescholars.jsc.nasa.gov/HAS/cirr/em/8/2.cfm

I cannot recommend Stephen Baxter's "Manifold Space" highly enough.
It details this type of scenario... but with alien contact to boot.
(good sci-fi)

[tridim]

7. I'd like Hoagland because he would be more open with the public

Space exploration should never be secret. After all, we pay for it.

[Selteri]

8. And the Europeans will be waving to us from Mars

Laughing their butts off at how stupid America became.