WATCH: NASA administrator Bill Nelson shows he needs remedial astronomy classes

Twitchy.com ^ | 4/23/2024 | Aaron Walker

[NetAddicted]

Let us start by saying we expect different levels of expertise from different people. Like for instance, if we are talking to a layperson and they indicated they didn’t know the difference between a motion to dismiss and a motion for summary judgment, we wouldn’t bat an eyelash at it. That is a level of ignorance that is just normal and justifiable for people who don’t deal with the law very much. We wouldn’t make fun of a such person for not knowing that or look down on them: We would simply explain the difference.

But if a person claims to be a lawyer or a judge and they don’t know the difference between a motion to dismiss and a motion for summary judgment … we start to think they shouldn’t be involved in the law.

The same goes for this bit of cluelessness we are going to show you from William Nelson, current NASA Administrator. If Nelson was a regular person, not involved in how we run our space program, and he made this mistake … no big deal. It certainly wouldn’t be worth a piece in Twitchy.

But because he is a NASA Administrator … oy vey:

When asked at a hearing what the "Chinese are doing on the backside of the moon" ‐ NASA administrator Bill Nelson demonstrates his incompetence by bizarrely claiming that the far side of the moon is always dark (which it isn't) and that the US is not planing to go there. When… pic.twitter.com/AnNkyIp7iI

— StarBoySAR 🇭🇰 🇨🇳 🥭 (@StarboySAR) April 23, 2024

The cut off text reads:

When asked why the US isn’t going there and what would be the benefit of doing so, Nelson responded; We don’t know what is on the backside of the moon, it’s for the Chinese to discover

However, as for the United States, our decision is that it’s more profitable for us to go to the South Pole of the moon, because we think that’s where the water is. When asked why, do you think they (the Chinese) made that decision? Nelson said; I have no idea... [clown emoji]

For the record, according to NASA’s website—which actually posted this video—this was from testimony about their budget, on April 18, 2024. We would support a few extra dollars in the budget for education in remedial astronomy for Nelson.

Look, when it comes to astronomy, well … this author is a pretty good lawyer. Still, we also happen to know two facts about the moon that make it unique. First, is that the moon is just the right size and the right distance from the Earth that it looks like it is about the same size as the sun to a person standing on Earth, which means it almost perfectly blocks the sun during a solar eclipse.

The second is that the moon is spinning on its axis just so, so that as it revolves around the earth, we are always seeing the same side. That is what they are talking about when they say there is a back side or far side of the moon, because there is a side you will never see from the Earth. And sometimes that is called the ‘dark’ side of the moon, but in this context, it means dark as in ‘unknown’ not as in actually lacking light.

How do you know that the back side of the moon gets as much light as the front during a lunar day? Well, look at the front. The front side of the moon goes from fully visible to us (full moon) to completely dark (new moon) every 29.5 (Earth) days. That reflects how the sun is shining on the front, so you would expect that the back would always be the opposite—when the front is dark the back is light, when the front is one quarter lit, the back is one quarter dark, and so on.

We would forgive a regular person for not knowing any of this if they don’t work in any area where astronomical knowledge is needed. You know, like if you didn’t work as NASA Administrator.

And we also accept the premise that a good manager doesn’t necessarily have to be someone who knows as much as the people actually doing the hands-on work. But we think a competent manager has to know the basics, like in this case, the fact that the moon is actually rotating on its axis, just like the Earth, which means it has a day and night cycle just like Earth does—only longer.

Do we have to tell you he got roasted?

Bill Nelson, professional idiot in charge of NASA, thinks the far side of the moon is "dark" implying that's why we're not going there for that reason.

In case you're wondering why weren't not back on the moon yetpic.twitter.com/3SPbasqtfG

— FilmLadd (@FilmLadd) April 23, 2024

So it appears his sole qualification was his role as a “Payload Specialist” (i.e civilian passenger) on Space Shuttle Columbia. This is as absurd as it would be to appoint someone to be Secretary of Transportation by virtue of having been a passenger on an aircraft.

Oh, wait… pic.twitter.com/oQaG2Rhxns

— Daniel Knauf 👹🌎 (@daniel_knauf) April 23, 2024

We do enjoy tangential roasting.

I told you Trump built the moon. The reason the otherside of the moon is called dark is because theere is a huge Trump sign there. It is so big the sun shoots solar flares at it.

— James DeWeese (@JamesDeWeese18) April 23, 2024

Prove him wrong. We’ll wait. *laughs*

Meanwhile, back on the Dark Side of the Moon, we have a team of Chinese robots and rovers, and we have no idea what they're up to.

— Jeffrey Rader (@JeffreyRaderIII) April 23, 2024

Jokes aside, we feel pretty confident that the Chinese went to the far side of the moon precisely because it is very difficult to see what they are doing there. It makes it the ultimate ‘dark site’ (although not literally lacking light) and we feel confident that whatever they plan to do over there, it won’t be good. Who knows, maybe they are cooking up the next pandemic.

"We're also planning an expedition to the Sun, at night, because it's cooler then" - Bill Nelson, @NASA, probably https://t.co/nUqZIEF4eY

— Ordnance Jay Packard, Esq. (@OrdnancePackard) April 23, 2024

This calls for a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers musical interlude:

Damn.

Look how far NASA has fallen since the days when its mission was to conduct outreach to the Muslim world.

WHAT HAVE WE BECOME?!?! https://t.co/0I1VGZN1fF pic.twitter.com/mpclygjOPw

— Undercover Brother, PhD, MD (@RealUCBfosho) April 23, 2024

Holy Crud!

Hey @TheRealBuzz, can you take time out of your busy schedule to do some remedial education of the NASA Director? For the good of America? https://t.co/qrC2OdvsoU

— E__Strobel (@WitCoHE_Bak) April 23, 2024

Shoutout to the legacy of Pink Floyd!

Does he also think we don't need no education though?@CallMeK1123 @AmandaMilius @anntensity https://t.co/RKWJjb6NwV

— Alien Hotep (@AlienHotep) April 23, 2024

‘Teachers, leave them kinds alone’ is kind of prophetic these days.

Former Senator. Current Patronage Appointment.

Govt (all levels) employ the most dim people as administrators https://t.co/UypgL7OAME

— Jedi Ghost Wisconsin Irish James (@blackdoglurking) April 23, 2024

Politics (including racial politics) should never override qualification.

Maybe this is just poorly expressed - but boy howdy is it poorly expressed. https://t.co/5JHvkElW5U

— Ken Smith (@smithkl42) April 23, 2024

We don’t see how it might be only poorly expressed. Of course, we would accept that he is senile—Google says he is about two months older than our president, after all, and Biden’s more of a potato than Brian Stelter—but that excuse would still mean he is not qualified for this job.

And the same goes for Biden.

MFW you get your astronomical education from a Pink Floyd album name. https://t.co/jKSzMSD8Wk

— Sensurround (@ShamashAran) April 23, 2024

But did he try to sync it up to The Wizard of Oz?

Episode 1 Series 3 of #SpaceForce just dropped. On NASA aiming for the Lunar "South Pole because that's where all the water is, there is no dark side of the Moon... as a matter of fact it is all dark." https://t.co/G6uSBppwf8 pic.twitter.com/48JousozbW

— GreedSpam (@GreedSpam) April 23, 2024

We always thought that dumping on the concept of a Space Force was misplaced. We might wish that space stayed demilitarized, but do we really think the Chinese won’t seek to militarize space? We need the capacity to project force into space, because you can bet our enemies will do it, or else we face the possibility of a space-based Pearl Harbor.

The mockery even went international:

NASA's øverste chef tror at Månens bagside altid ligger i mørke!? 🤣😂😅 USA har virkelig noget at skulle hente i forhold til Kina! #dkpol https://t.co/VT6hoPn7AZ

— John Dühring (@duhringjohn) April 23, 2024

We are going to quote a few people speaking in different languages, so understand that all of this is via Google Translate which can be wrong. So, he allegedly said in Danish:

NASA’s chief executive believes that the back side of the Moon is always in darkness!? [emojis] The USA really has something to gain compared to China!

公聴会でNASAのビル・ネルソン長官が「中国人は月の裏側で何をしているのか」と問われ、「月の裏側は常に暗い（実際はそうではない）」と奇妙な主張をし、米国はそこに行く予定はないとして無能さを露呈した

デジタル大臣が、Xでブロックしてもポストが見れると自信満々に答える日本も似たようなもの https://t.co/Bbydiz1gI4

— 清水泰雅 (@steco_shimizu) April 23, 2024

From Japanese:

At a hearing, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson was asked, ‘What are the Chinese doing on the far side of the moon?’ and made the bizarre claim that ‘the far side of the moon is always dark (it’s not),’ revealing his incompetence by saying that the U.S. has no plans to go there.

It’s similar in Japan, where the Digital Minister confidently answers that you can still see posts even if you block them with X.

😂😂😂 Dit kan toch echt niet.. Nu hoef je helemaal niks "wetenschappelijks" meer van NASA aan te nemen als de vertegenwoordiger ervan niet eens weet dat de Maan ook roteert.. Hoe kan deze man op die plek zitten en ook nog verantwoording erover af leggen? https://t.co/rQwVDwhc2E

— Roeland Ruijsch (@RoelandRuijsch) April 23, 2024

From Dutch:

This really isn’t possible..

Now you don’t have to accept anything ‘scientific’ from NASA if its representative doesn’t even know that the Moon also rotates...

How can this man sit in that place and still be accountable for it?

This is a good point. How often do you see people belonging to the ‘party of science’ prove to be clueless on scientific topics. We see this often on abortion, where abortion advocates claim that human fetuses aren’t human or that they aren’t alive (both statements are untrue, scientifically). The same people who can’t figure out that there is dark side of the moon in terms of illumination are telling us climate change is definitely real.

The truth was also illustrated in gif form:

Hmm.... 🤔🫠 https://t.co/DgjxGcsisb pic.twitter.com/FNr18FssLO

— ⟓ Winther ⟔ | السلام لا يمكن أن يحقق إلا بالعدل. (@transceiverfreq) April 23, 2024

Wow, Bill Nelson is actually a few weeks OLDER than Joe Biden 👀 https://t.co/drcbLcTxha

— Aravind Mohanoor aravind_mc on Gettr (@aravindmc) April 23, 2024

This is so typically American!

We'll claim to know everything. And when the time comes for us to admit that "we don't know," we'll simply lie about it....

Go USA! 🤢 https://t.co/RPJczKnzbm

— Rahul SA 🇿🇦 (@Rahul_AJ_1990) April 23, 2024

Hey, don’t put that on all of us.

Bill may have sat in the wrong hearing.🫢🫢🫢 pic.twitter.com/gHynh1Mvut

— Адолф@КИТАИ (@Kitai_2023) April 23, 2024

‘There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it’s all dark.’

—Pink Floyd, Eclipse.

How does he know the far side of the moon is "always dark" if he has not seen it and is not planning on going there? FWIW the aliens might have a base and throwing the Mother of All Parties over there? 🤷‍♂️

— Shyan (@tayshyan) April 23, 2024

*laughs* It checks out.

It's true then, NASA is just a studio backlot in Hollywood!

— rethaiard (@rethaiard) April 23, 2024

This author’s late friend John Hoge, who worked for NASA, used to say something like this about the moon landing: ‘Of course, it is fake. That’s why the footage is in black and white: So that you wouldn’t see it was actually shot on Mars.’

Then he would grin and start laughing at his own joke. This whole piece made us think of him and miss him.

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[hal ogen]

This nasa guy doesn’t surprise me. After all, he is a government employee.

[dead]

The far side of the moon gets a little bit more sunlight over time than the side we see, because the far side is never eclipsed by the Earth.

[logi_cal869]

Here’s a NASA animation of his idiocy

https://moon.nasa.gov/resources/429/the-moons-orbit-and-rotation/

[Thank You Rush]

“”He is a genial politician””

Maybe that’s why I thought he was a good guy...vaguely remember him but I did remember the name...

[PIF]

Not just mapped but mapped in hi-res by the US Navy’s Clementine mission in 1994. However, all the hi-res images remain classified. How about that?

Question 1. Why was the US Navy interested in mapping the moon in such detail or even interested in mapping it at all?

Question 2. 40 years later the hi-res images remain classified. Why?

Question 3. What exactly did they see that warranted classification (besides Alice Kramden and a few stray cats)?

[PeterPrinciple]

This is as absurd as it would be to appoint someone to be Secretary of Transportation by virtue of having been a passenger on an aircraft.

Oh, wait…

[nwrep]

Is this guy white or black. Surprising if this level of ignorance is coming from a middle-aged white man.

[bunkerhill7]

The far side of his brain is always dark

[jjotto]

Bill Nelson is 82. Same guy who was Florida US senator.

[left that other site]

I always thought the Pink Floyd song went, "Teachers, leave those kids alone."

"I'll see you on the backside of the moon."

[telescope115]

Before he became Administrator, Nelson was an astronaut himself. The training he must’ve had surely was extensive, not only in matters of space flight, but of astronomy as well. We have all heard him talk. I would LOVE to see a substantial conversation between him and Biden. I think they are BOTH mentally compromised.

[telescope115]

I have to correct myself before someone else does - Nelson WASN’T an actual astronaut- he was a lawyer and and democrat politician who got himself a ride on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1986. I remembered him going up, and didn’t know much else about him at the time.

[Wuli]

The NASA administrator reflects a person who got an American K-12 and college education in the last few decades - better indoctrinated than educated.

[NorthMountain]

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter would like to have a chat with you.

[NorthMountain]

William Nelson is a politically appointed bureaucrat. His ignorance and lack of intellect does not represent the average NASA scientist, engineer, or technician.

The groupthink here, that NASA is composed of idiots who are only concerned with diversity and kissing mohammedan donkey, is inconsistent with reality.

[PIF]

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter would like to have a chat with you.

—
What’s your point?

[NorthMountain]

It rendered your three “questions” irrelevant.

But you already knew that.

[NorthMountain]

Something seemed “off” to me about your questions. So I did a quick check.

You said that the “Clementine” mission in 1994 was a US Navy project. That is false. It was a Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and NASA project with several science and engineering goals. Your claim that all of the imagery is “classified” is suspect at best; in fact a huge amount of imagery from it is publicly available.

Someone lied to you, and you didn’t bother to verify their claims.

You are dismissed.

[cgbg]

Nelson has served his purpose—proved that white people can be dumb too.

[NorthMountain]

Mr. Joe Biden is doing a great job in that regard as well ...