NASA OR NBA CHOICES FOR OUR YOUTH
There are more NBA basketball stars than there are NASA astronauts, therefore, the odds are better for anyone of above average height to try to become a basketball player than an astronaut. The pay is better in the NBA as well, and Dennis Rodman gets a lot more air time than any astronaut. Yet I always see NASA astronauts running around encouraging kids to study science and math so that they can become astronauts. I don't think these kids are that stupid, they can figure the odds, and see the benefits. Until "astronaut" becomes a pretty common job title, the best bet is to try for the NBA.
SPIN-OFFS? WHAT SPIN-OFFS?!
NASA proudly proclaims that there are thousands of spin-offs from the space program. Of course any big government research program produces spin-offs, and the number is always exaggerated. NASA naturally seeks to claim as many spin-offs as possible to justify it's budget. A short time back I heard NASA was even taking credit for the invention of Velcro, which isn't even an American invention. (George De Mestral of France 1948) It is true that NASA has produced many spin-offs, mostly during the Apollo years when the agency was breaking new ground. But a comparison is needed to evaluate and measure the true value of those spin-offs. Aviation provides that comparison. During the 20's and 30's the NACA did a lot of ground breaking research into aeronautics and produced advances in engines, avionics, materials, aerodynamics, meteorology, and navigation. Yet these spin-offs from aeronautical research are minuscule in comparison to the return provided by NACA's support of the commercial aviation industry. A commercial air transportation industry was the big spin-off from aeronautical research. An industry that has changed the course of human civilization. A 1920's comparison would be Rockefeller's millions with the dimes he gave away as the spin-offs.
NASA has given us a few spin-offs. The big payoff however, a private commercial free enterprise space transportation industry is denied us by a NASA that seeks to guarantee it's budget by holding Space hostage. A good comparison to keep in mind would be Bill Gates billions with Bill giving you a dollar as the spin-off. The establishment and promotion of a private commercial free enterprise space transportation industry would be a return 50 billion times greater than all the spin-offs that NASA has ever produced. We should be enraged at what NASA is denying us.
HOW TO BUILD A LUNAR COLONY
TEXAS, GOD's country. I picked up a book on the life of Stephen F. Austin, not the first person to settle in Texas, or a revolutionary hero, but very important in changing Texas from a wilderness to a settled, civilized territory. Austin was very much a diplomat, quietly working behind the scenes to create and nurture his colonies on the rivers of Texas. His first step was to persuade the Mexican government to set up a colonization policy, a policy that would encourage the settlement of the wilderness. The policy provided for land titles to be issued to the settlers, and for monetary rewards for the founder. Austin was never to become a rich man form his endless hours of work on the behalf of his settlers, but the monetary compensation was important none the less. Political differences eventually led to the Texas Revolution of 1836, and in 1845 after several years of struggling to survive as a sovereign country, Texas joined the United States. Texas is in fact the only actual country to do so.
The MOON. There's a joke about the devil owing Texas and Hell, and preferring to rent out Texas and live in Hell, but the Moon is really a whole lot worse than Texas. Obviously the concept of single families traveling to the Moon to set up subsistence agricultural communities is not applicable to lunar settlement. The Moon is going to be an example of industrial colonization. Large companies will set up mining and manufacturing operations on the Moon and bring workers with them. Agriculture will develop as a support activity, an industrial process. The closest thing to a colony will be residential settlements, suburbia in a Lunar setting.
The common thread between colonizing Texas and the Moon is the need for land titles, and financial reward to the developers. But who owns the Moon, and do they have a colonization policy? Fortunately for us, the United States Senate did not ratify the United Nations Outer Space Treaty, which would have turned over ownership of the rest of the Universe to the UN. For Americans the skies are still open but the question of titles is undetermined. The legal proceedings which will follow the first claim of ownership of a section of the Moon will delay humanity's progress into Space for years.
I THINK I CAN'T, I THINK I CAN'T
Briefly, the difference between a fool and a genius; both have a lot of ideas, a genius knows which ones are good. An idiot of course has no ideas at all.
I'm continually amazed, not at what weird space projects that people propose, but at the typical response that occurs. Along comes an idea. It becomes a NASA program. A study contract is let. The costs begin to rise. The project is used as a "technology driver" to fund advanced systems development. The costs skyrocket. Technological problems are found. Costs become astronomical. It is discovered that there will be no great scientific discoveries as a result of the project. The project is determined to be blatantly commercial and therefore unacceptable to NASA. The conclusion, IT CAN'T BE DONE!
The amazing part is that no one seems capable of seeing around NASA. They can't comprehend that there are other organizations that can get things done in Space, or even that NASA might not be the best organization to take on a project. The rationalization that there is one best solution to every problem and that the government knows what is best for the citizens blinds most space supporters to any solution to a problem but NASA.
HOW TO BLOCK HUMAN ACCESS TO SPACE
Suppose you wanted to set up an organization to impede human progress into Space. What machiavellian impediments would you devise? How would you hide your evil plans? Well;
Don't oppose, favor and support space, but for limited research purposes only. Then no one can criticize you or they will be opposing space research.
Make Space look risky, expensive, and dangerous. Everyone else will be glad to let you take the risk and provide for the country's space transportation needs.
Set up a limited means of accessing Space to siphon off the best ideas and prove that they are uneconomical. Since access is limited you can sidetrack any competitive ideas that might open up Space by claiming that there isn't room on the launch vehicles.
Use "feel good" socialist values psychology words like, common property, for all mankind, for the common good, multinational, and of course international cooperation. Anyone who argues against you is a lecherous money grubbing capitalist.
Set up programs that appear to help private enterprise, but actually subvert and misdirect. By drawing in private organizations and then diverting them into projects that you define, you can cut off any developments that might open access to Space.
Provide massive funding to help foreign competitors to become a part of your program. Again, buy them off and divert them into dead end projects.
Hey that sounds just like what NASA is doing! Of course NASA has no evil plan to keep humans out of Space, but for all their good intentions, they have achieved the same results using exactly the same means.
A MORBID TONTINE
Recently, Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr., Gemini (twice), Apollo, and Skylab astronaut, third man to walk on the moon, passed away after being injured in a motorcycle accident. Pete was one of the great characters of the space program and will be greatly missed.
We are now entering an era in which we will be rapidly be loosing our remaining Apollo astronauts. Alan Shepard is gone, and very soon there will be no one left on Earth who has walked on the moon. Will the last Apollo astronaut please turn off the space program.
The next time someone says that we are moving fast enough in colonizing Space, consider that even Columbus lived to see a colony founded in the New World, will our Apollo astronauts live to see a Lunar colony?
THE REAL REASON THEY STOPPED THE APOLLO MOON LANDINGS
Who will be the next person to set foot on the Moon? That's actually an easy question to answer, that person will be . . . . the thirteenth person to set foot on the Moon. With the bad luck of Apollo 13, and the superstitious character of most of the old military flyers that made up the astronaut corps, maybe they just couldn't get anyone to be the thirteenth person to set foot on the Moon. Who would want to go through life being known as the hard luck thirteenth person to set foot on the Moon? So, here's the solution, we modify the lunar lander to carry three persons, the commander, the pilot, and a celebrity guest astronaut. The commander of course will be scheduled to step out first to become that fateful thirteenth, but, when the door is opened the commander and the pilot grab the celebrity guest astronaut and throw him out first to become the thirteenth. We'll need a celebrity that everybody finds irritating already, I suggest Martin Short or Pauly Shore.