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Gingrich Space Plan Promises the Moon, Literally: Lunar Base by 2020
Space.com ^ | 25 January 2012 Time: 07:07 PM ET | Mike Wall

Posted on 01/26/2012 7:36:33 AM PST by The_Victor

The United States will have a permanent manned colony on the moon by 2020 if Newt Gingrich is in charge, the Republican presidential hopeful announced today (Jan. 25).

Gingrich laid out this goal during a speech in the city of Cocoa, on Florida's Space Coast. He also said that near-Earth space would be bustling with commercial activity by 2020, and that America would possess a next-generation propulsion system by then, allowing the nation to get astronauts to Mars quickly and efficiently.

"By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon, and it will be American," Gingrich said.

The former Speaker of the House made no apologies for the boldness of his amibitions, which depend primarily on the emergence of a vibrant commercial spaceflight industry. He said the U.S. space program needs a kick in the pants like the one President John F. Kennedy gave it in 1961, when he promised to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.

(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: bhonasa; biggovtconservative; catastrophism; fl2012; livingdocument; nasa; newt2012; space
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To: from occupied ga
Heinlein wrote FICTION.

I've never read the very popular and widely beloved Heinlein, but at least I know that good fiction is never just fiction. It delivers truth, as opposed to fact. Indeed, truth can be much clearer in fiction than in fact.

41 posted on 01/26/2012 8:20:55 AM PST by Lady Lucky (A tea party in name only is worse than no tea party at all.)
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To: VanDeKoik

600,000 lost in the civil war.


42 posted on 01/26/2012 8:21:38 AM PST by W. W. SMITH (Obama is an instrument of enslavement)
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To: from occupied ga
Again, not true

Again, it is true. I shouldn't have to do the legwork for lazy libs, but here:

"Smoke detectors were first developed and installed aboard the Skylab space station in the 1970s. This technology eventually reached the consumer market, and these devices are now standard household items."

Any idea how many lives smoke detectors have saved?

Read more: Space Inventions Used on Earth | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/list_7350873_space-inventions-used-earth.html#ixzz1ka5qM26I

Now go occupy something.

43 posted on 01/26/2012 8:23:42 AM PST by ILS21R (Never give up.)
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To: ari-freedom
Sorry, Newt Gingrich isn't my life. I'll grant you the technology spinoffs from NASA were probably more significant than Facebook.
44 posted on 01/26/2012 8:23:42 AM PST by throwback ( The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid)
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To: The_Victor

If we could send all the liberal/progressive/commie to the moon, pow zoom, I would definitely support a moon station.
It would be ideal for them. No oil or carbon output.


45 posted on 01/26/2012 8:23:53 AM PST by Leep (It's gonna be a Newt day!)
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To: from occupied ga

I suspect that when it comes to Heinlein, you are illiterate and not really able to comment in a creditable manner. That would mean your post is drivelous blather that costs bandwidth


46 posted on 01/26/2012 8:24:41 AM PST by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 ..... Crucifixion is coming)
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To: Lady Lucky

Thank you for mentioning the prizes. Of course nobody reads that far, they just want to make fun of someone who wants to go to the moon because it’s such a “waste.” That’s exactly what a liberal would say. Forget about unleashing the ingenuity and genius of the American people.
Nobody remembers that Lindberg flew across the Atlantic to win the $25,000 Orteig Prize. Better to just listen to the RINOS and their small minds as they mock any inspirational idea.


47 posted on 01/26/2012 8:25:58 AM PST by HectorOne
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To: Romulus

The surface of the moon or mars is not zero-G. The resources to be exploited are astronomical both in quantity and value.


48 posted on 01/26/2012 8:26:51 AM PST by W. W. SMITH (Obama is an instrument of enslavement)
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To: ILS21R

“Newt- NASA - Moonbase
Obama - NASA - Muslim outreach
Any questions?”

Yep. I’ve got one.

Where’s the ton of money to pay for this going to come from?

Nice rhetoric from Newt.
It’s a campaign, remember?

(BTW, before you attack me, I’ll be voting for Mr. Gingrinch in the primary and in the general, if he makes it)


49 posted on 01/26/2012 8:27:11 AM PST by Road Glide
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To: VanDeKoik
Both has/can lead to billions in resources and economic expansion for the U.S..

I disagree. You're overlooking several things:

  1. First and foremost is the immense cost of getting anything back from the moon. There is literallly no material substance that could be obtained on the moon that wouldn't be cheaper to obtain right here on earth
  2. Second, WHAT is on the moon anyway? Alaska gave things like gold, oil, fish, timber. Since the moon doesn't have air or life, we can let out fish and timber. Since the latest moon formation theory considers it to be the ejecta from the mantle due to a really large collision early in earth's history, it is unlikely to have much in the way of heavy metals, and I doubt it has much oil, but even if it were composed of crude oil it would not be economically feasible to exploit it. It short to the best of anyone's knowledge it's a ball of rock, and if you want rocks, you can pick them up just about anywhere prety cheaply.
  3. There is the lost opportunity cost. For every dollar spent (or squandered) that is forcibly extracted form the taxpayers, a dollar's worth of something that those selfsame taxpayer actually want isn't manufactured developed or purchased.
In short a taxpayer funded lunar colony is nothing but a giant waste of resources.
50 posted on 01/26/2012 8:27:23 AM PST by from occupied ga (your own government is your most dangerous enemy)
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To: throwback

“Sorry, Newt Gingrich isn’t my life.”

Like my mom used to say, if you can’t say anything good...


51 posted on 01/26/2012 8:28:31 AM PST by ari-freedom (If SOPA/PIPA passes, we will lose our Free Republic.)
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To: The_Victor

He would probably get more political mileage if he would say that the first order of business in being president would be signing off on the Keystone Pipeline project.


52 posted on 01/26/2012 8:29:32 AM PST by Tulsa Ramjet ("If not now, when?" "Because it's judgment that defeats us.")
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To: Leep
If we could send all the liberal/progressive/commie to the moon, pow zoom, I would definitely support a moon station.

I would rather send them to the sun. But I would send them at night, since it would not be as hot.

53 posted on 01/26/2012 8:30:14 AM PST by kosciusko51 (Enough of "Who is John Galt?" Who is Patrick Henry?)
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To: Tulsa Ramjet

People care about lack of jobs and $15,000,000,000,000+ in debt, not the lack of a moonbase colony which will be extremely expensive.

This is a space cadet idea at this time.


54 posted on 01/26/2012 8:30:54 AM PST by LowTaxesEqualsProsperity
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To: ari-freedom

You’re sneaky. Point taken.


55 posted on 01/26/2012 8:30:57 AM PST by throwback ( The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid)
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To: Romulus

You wrote, “Human life does not prosper over long periods in zero-G. There are no resources out there that can be economically harvested.”

From http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Incorrect_predictions

Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible...Well-informed people know that it is impossible to transmit the human voice over wires as may be done with dots and dashes of Morse code, and that, were it possible to do so, the thing would be of no practical value...The ordinary ‘horseless carriage’ is at present a luxury for the wealthy; and although its price will probably fall in the future, it will never, of course, come into as common use as the bicycle.

Very entertaining page, numerous hilarious predictions. Recommend a visit.


56 posted on 01/26/2012 8:31:05 AM PST by Lady Lucky (A tea party in name only is worse than no tea party at all.)
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To: from occupied ga

For national security reasons, you want to be on the moon. China has already demonstrated how easy it is to take down a satellite.


57 posted on 01/26/2012 8:32:21 AM PST by ari-freedom (If SOPA/PIPA passes, we will lose our Free Republic.)
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To: Romulus
There are no resources out there that can be economically harvested.

I suspect there were those who said the same thing of the New World in 1500 or so. There are plenty of resources that could be economically viable, with some technology development in the private sector.

That said, the Moon and Mars are sexy but not the best steps. We need orbital habitats. Lots of them, and big ones. O'Neill colonies would give us the step into space we need. Girard O'Neill wrote the book on it back in the 80s. It was feasible for private industry then. It could be feasible now.

58 posted on 01/26/2012 8:34:40 AM PST by JenB
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To: bolobaby

I seem to remember reading that the Moon’s gravity was not sufficient to overcome degrading effects of zero-g (for want of a better term).

I suppose that building a sleeping centrifuge on lunar firma might be feasible.


59 posted on 01/26/2012 8:35:37 AM PST by Calvin Locke
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To: ari-freedom

In other words, we need to militarize the high ground. In my mind, making NASA a civilian organization was not the way to go. NASA should be part of the military, and leave the civilian side to the commercial space development.


60 posted on 01/26/2012 8:35:47 AM PST by kosciusko51 (Enough of "Who is John Galt?" Who is Patrick Henry?)
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