Vanity - President Nixon and the Moon

05/02/12 | T. P. Pole

[T. P. Pole]

When I look back at history, I think it is just great how President Nixon is responsible for landing men on the moon.

What's that? You say that President Kennedy is really responsible for initiating the plan years before, and that President Nixon just happened to be the guy in charge when it finally happened?

Oh, ok.

That's fine.

I think it is just great how President Obama is responsible for killing bin Laden.

[T. P. Pole]

Just my feelings on the matter - total vanity.

[6SJ7]

Good analogy.

[Jaxter]

But, then again, it’s all his fault that poor John Kerry had to spend Christmas, ‘68 in Cambodia.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Expect a presidential proclamation naming May 2nd as “Dance on Osama’s Corpse” day.
It is to be celebrated with fireworks and bonfires, similar to Guy Fawkes Day in the UK.

[Vaquero]

I have been posting the following for the past few days...

Saying the zer0bama regime took down Bin Laden...

....is like saying the Nixon Administration put Apollo 11 on the moon....

[oh8eleven]

President Nixon and the Moon
Interesting that the loonie-left always refers to VN as Nixon's war.
Troops in Vietnam reached a peak of 543,000 in 1968 - the last year LBJ was in the WH.

"Hey-hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?"

[T. P. Pole]

Ah, yes, and short enough for a tag line.

I was just picturing my conversations with the kool aide drinkers. . .

[Vaquero]

Nixon did scrap the program after Apollo 17...he came in in January and let it coast through the July launch, which was already scheduled when he came into office....he used up the stuff that was already built.

He did NOTHING for the space program...

he wasnt even a conservative...he was a statist, and elitist and a crony capitalist who implimented wage and price freezes.

[jboot]

Nixon was sworn in in Jan '69. All 7 (6+1 failed) Apollo moon landing missions happened during his first term, with the final one occurring just after his re-election in Dec '72.

That said, you are right, Nixon was no fan of old NASA. He was committed to the oinking pork Shuttle from the start, and starting with his very first budget in '69 he redirected significant funds to it. (The funding of the Shuttle program was first announced publically while the Apollo 11 astronauts were still on the moon.) By 1972 Apollo was a dead letter, and America was committed to a 40-year dead end in space.

[jboot]

The Left also blames Eisenhower for ‘Nam. Historical gymnastics are required to blame it on two Republican Presidents who served nearly a decade apart, while sparing the reputation of the two Democrat Presidents who served during the most intense years of the war, including the initial combat deployment.

[jboot]

The Left also blames Eisenhower for ‘Nam. Historical gymnastics are required to blame it on two Republican Presidents who served nearly a decade apart, while sparing the reputation of the two Democrat Presidents who served during the most intense years of the war, including the initial combat deployment.

[hopespringseternal]

he wasnt even a conservative...he was a statist, and elitist and a crony capitalist who implimented wage and price freezes

Nixon aborted space in favor of entitlements. LBJ may have brought them into existence, but Nixon should have killed them or at least reigned them in and we wouldn't be in the situation we are now.

Back to the point, I have no doubt at all that Obama's hand was forced on bin Laden. He knew he couldn't go into the next election with the news that he let bin Laden get away.

[GonzoGOP]

he came in in January and let it coast through the July launch, which was already scheduled when he came into office....he used up the stuff that was already built.

He didn't even do that. There were three Saturn V rockets already built paid for and ready to go. One got used for skylab and the other two ended up in museums. While the Saturn V's are impressive in the Florida and Texas they would have been a lot more impressive boosting payload into orbit as intended.

Just to show what could have been done, Skylab had a usable volume of 368 cubic meters. So if they had used the other two Saturn Vs to throw up space station components they could have built a space station with a usable volume of 1,104 cubic meters for the cost of only three launches using equipment that had already been paid for. For comparison the ISS has a usable volume of 837 cubic meters and required 40 assembly flights.

[GonzoGOP]

The funding of the Shuttle program was first announced publically while the Apollo 11 astronauts were still on the moon.

Nitpick correction, but a cool one. It was Apollo 16 that was on the moon when the funding got approved. John Young, the first shuttle commander, was on the moon when the ship he would later fly was approved.

[jboot]

Ah, you are right! Faulty memory at work. It's been 20 years since a bunch of us sat down and killed a weekend and a couple cases of Michelob watching all the then-available footage from all 6 landings.

Who says space geeks don't know how to have fun? ;-)

[GonzoGOP]

Who says space geeks don't know how to have fun? ;-)

What you mean normal people don't watch unedited Space-X launch footage and can name the Gemini astronauts? And yes I am totally pumped for next Monday. Light that candle!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks T. P. Pole.