Going Beyond The Status Quo In Space

[LunaSea]

"Perhaps worst of all, we were (are) hearing an incessant drumbeat that the world was running out of room and resources, that we faced a world of limits, a zero-sum game in which our children would have to settle for less in life than we had. Many young people who picked up that message-that success would be elusive--concluded that study and hard work might not be the kind of blue-chip investments they were a generation earlier. The space program itself was viewed by many as a too-expensive series of stunts that would be unaffordable in the bad times ahead. It was certainly not seen in terms of an investment in breaking out of those limits and into new and better times."



The preceding paragraph was not written in the last few years. It is an excerpt of a speech given by Dr. George Keyworth, Director of the Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) almost 25 years ago. Therein lies the issue before us today when considering how to re-craft the "Vision for Space Exploration" into a policy that can garner the continuing support of the Congress and the American people. Our exploration effort beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) must make a concrete connection to addressing the critical issues that confront our nation and our civilization today. This is the subject of this missive.

More-
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1334

[lindisfarne]

1. And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space cause there's bugger all down here on

earth.
Eric Idle, Meaning of Life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWVshkVF0SY&feature=related

[Johonny]

2. Yeah cause we got rovers on Mars and are traveling to Pluto atm

We did break out of the low Earth orbit a long time ago. While we were struggling putting people into space at all we were also sending mission to other planets. The history of space exploration is a history of unmanned space mission exploring the solar system and beyond. It's an amazing story that gets ignored because people are obsessed with people sitting around in tin cans.

[lindisfarne]

3. Not to mention to the sun. n/t