Stinging report says NASA lost, lacks real sense of direction

msnbc.msn.com ^ | December 5, 2012 | Seth Borenstein

[wesagain]

NASA, the agency that epitomized the "Right Stuff," looks lost in space and doesn't have a clear sense of where it is going, an independent panel of science and engineering experts said in a stinging report Wednesday.

The report by a panel of the distinguished National Academy of Sciences doesn't blame the space agency; it faults the president, Congress and the nation for not giving NASA better direction. At the same time, it said NASA is doing little to further the White House's goal of sending astronauts to an asteroid.

In one withering passage, the panel said NASA's mission and vision statements are so vague and "generic" that they "could apply to almost any government research and development agency, omitting even the worlds 'aeronautics' or 'space.'"

The space shuttles were retired in 2011 and are now museum pieces. Few people are paying attention to the International Space Station, and American astronauts have to rely on Russian spaceships to get there and back. Meanwhile, rocket-building is being outsourced to private companies, and a commercial venture plans to send people to the moon by the end of the decade.

Academy panel member Bob Crippen, a retired NASA manager and astronaut who piloted the first space shuttle mission, said he has never seen the space .......

[chessplayer]

We had reason to be proud of our NASA, but is it really necessary? Do we really need to have the gov in charge of this,

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Yes, because no private enterprise will be able to afford what NASA does and has done. Sure, private enterprise might be able to put a satellite in orbit, but thats about it.

[chessplayer]

Somebody could help NASA out by stepping outside and pointing up at the sky.

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So volunteer your services to them,

[BlessingsofLiberty]

“...it said NASA is doing little to further the White House’s goal of sending astronauts to an asteroid.”

Maybe they should plan to send Obozo and his “insignificant” other to an asteroid. That would give those scientists some incentive to work hard and fast toward that goal.

I know a lot of people that would support them in that endeavor.

[piasa]

Stinging report says NASA lost, lacks real sense of direction

You'd think NASA would have a keen sense of direction since its officials need to locate Mecca five times a day.

[wrencher]

They may not do great science any more but their EEO figures are fantastic.

[annieokie]

No one can read the damned memos:

صانع للحدث ومشارك فيه وجزء منه بمعنى ان ينقل المواطن الحدث من مكان وقوعه صوت وصورة للمشاهد عبر التلفزيون من خلال تصوير الحدث سواء كانت مظاهرات أو اشتباكات أو حوادث طرق أو غيرها . - تعتمد القناه على نقلها للحدث مباشرة بداية من البورصة والاحداث الاقتصادية من داخل مقصورة البورصةالرئيسية وهو مايحدث لاول مرة في قناه مصرية ان تبث مباشرة من مقصورة البورصة. - متابعه للمؤتمرات الحزبية والسياسيه والوقفات الاحتجاجية والإنتخابات بشكل مباشر من خلال كاميرات القناه التي تتجول من مكان إلى اخر لنقل الاحداث مباشره. - تتابع القناه مايحدث في العالم العربي وتأثيره على مصر من خلال مكاتبها بالإضافة لنقل مايحدث وراءهذه الاخبار وكواليس الاحداث. - تنقل القناه بشكل يومي مايحدث على الساحة المصرية في جميع القضايا السياسية والإجتماعية والثقافية من خلال البرامج اليومية بشكل مباشر وتعتمد في على الإيقاع السريع والتحليل ودقة المعلومات في جميع انحاء الجمهورية من خلال 28 مراسل في جميع محافظات مصر. - تنقل كواليس الاحداث الرياضية من خلال الالتراس ومشاكل الأندية ومن وراءالاحداث الرياضية والمشاحنات ونقل حي من كواليس المباريات وصفقات اللاعبين واجتماعات الأندية بالإضافة لمتابعة الاحداث الرياضية العالمية .

[Aria]

Obama must be so proud of cutting us down to size...he really must think this country needs to experience what it’s like to be a third world hell hole. He is one sick uck...and fearless and without conscience in his lying and betraying.

What is unfathomable is how easy it has been to bribe and cheat his way in to power.

I work with a guy from Eritrea in Africa. He said it was built up by the Italians and his mother speaks fluent Italian and he gets to eat a lot of authentically cooked Italian food. Apparently it was once the top country in Africa - very industrial. Then there was a revolution “by the gun” and a dictator was put in place over 40 years ago. Now they are the least industrial country in Africa. Sounds familiar! But I’m sure the potentate at the top and his sycophants are doing quite well i.e. 4M vacations by “dear leader” for which the serfs are supposed to be grateful to be able to bless their superior ones, special benefits for all who bow to him and pure $hit for those who are disgusted by this.

Did you ever believe this could happen to us?

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

NASA = Never A Straight Answer

[DManA]

There is a line of thinking that if Kennedy hadn’t been murdered we never would have gone to the moon.

After he made his goal of reaching the moon, and they told him what it would cost, he was shocked and appalled. And started looking around for excesses to weasel out.

Then he was shot, and we had to do it for John. FOR JOHN! FOR JOHN!

[the OlLine Rebel]

I doubt that. At least minus the century-old income tax, it probably could be done if someone/group wanted to spend all their time on it.

Once again, it all goes back to income tax. If it were gone, how many things we could do.

[the OlLine Rebel]

I can see that, but then again, we were in a “space race” with commies (as if we didn’t already have them in the US). So, it probably would’ve happened even without Martyr Syndrome.

[MasterGunner01]

That's due to Muslim Outreach at work. Muslims haven't contributed anything to world civilization for 1,400 years. NASA is just finding out why this is.

[lwoodham]

Well u8nder the direction of Barack Obimbo what did they expect. I mean NASA is now a Muslim outreach center according to the wishes of almighty O.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

I would rather not know how much was spent to produce this report. Just spare me, please.

[PieterCasparzen]

Yes, because no private enterprise will be able to afford what NASA does and has done. Sure, private enterprise might be able to put a satellite in orbit, but thats about it.

The NASA budget is only about $17 to $18 billion per year. That is a paltry figure. Just one aerospace company, Lockheed Martin, has annual revenue of about $46 billion.

When government bonds are issued to finance public works - the investors that buy them are - in the private sector.

Deal values for private financings can frequently range into the billions. When Hospital Corp. of America was bought out by private equity in 2006, the deal was valued at $32.7 billion.

Balance sheets of the largest banks in America - are now in the Trillions, yes, that’s Trillions with a T.

It is a childish scam to say that a paltry $17 billion can not be raised by the private sector - but our leftist media and schools continually trot out that propaganda; we have to close our ears to it and look at the numbers ourselves.

The only issue with raising billions in private sector capital for a project is there has to be some return on the investment, and that is where NASA’s activities fall woefully short. If you need to raise billions for a project that has no hope of having any return on the investment, THAT requires the taxpayer to pay for it. The entire race to the moon, after all, was simply a competition between the leadership of the U.S. and the USSR.

There certainly were advancements made that came out of the space program. But there are also advancements made out of military aircraft development programs. There are always things learned about X while in the process of working on problem Y. Companies involved in making anything chemical in nature are generally very good in this arena, in fact, they often are too adventurous in this regard, having, IMHO, sometimes forgotten about the benefits of keeping products safe over the long haul. But my point here is that there is something called creativity in the private sector, a creativity that springs from being in the private sector, where the business is creating products to sell and must do so profitably or face layoffs. Politicians, on the other hand, have zero clue about what the next project should be from an engineering, economic, strategic, moral or any other standpoint besides good PR for them and doing what their "experts" (globalists, elites, etc.) tell them.

Like anyone my age in a technical field, NASA is near and dear to my heart, because I have early memories of being up in the morning early, with my father, watching the Apollo missions. I certainly take my hat off to engineers and scientists making something so grand work, and I will always feel that way.

Unfortunately (back in the reality of politics), there was no revenue stream at the end of the project, so it should be viewed as the competition that it was and be retired.

Hand in hand with that idea, however, is that aerospace superiority is critical to national security. So in truth, the U.S. government should purchase aerospace systems like crazy from private sector companies, and limit what they can export (which they do). Our idiot Congress needs to keep in mind that these companies are great, but they need to make sales in the U.S. or they are tempted to sell overseas. There are many smart tactics that could be employed to keep America safe and generate huge revenue for aerospace. Wasting money is not one of them.

The project they should be working on is cleaning up all the junk up there. It should be put up to bid along the lines of SpaceX, etc., with the same idea that things are accomplished step by step, not in one big program to do the whole job.

It's important to point out also that a lot more than NASA needs to be eliminated, i.e., welfare of $1 Trillion, or the $17 billion will just be reallocated there, in which case it is better spent on NASA. Also, NASA should be sold off as an organization and equipment, to purely American companies, not merely shut down.

IMHO.