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Posted by KenaiGary [65.74.48.28] on Tuesday, August 28, 2012 at 00:39:25 :
In Reply to: Why we stopped dreaming... posted by Jonas [67.142.178.27] on Sunday, August 26, 2012 at 21:59:36 :
The Tyson video is excellent, but there is more, much more to it. I worked for NASA's Marshall Spaceflight Center from 1996-2000 as a program manager for public affairs. While perhaps many in our nation stopped dreaming those who worked for NASA did not.
MSFC was the lead for a number of X vehicles during that time. The issues that prevented these spacecraft from flying was not from the lack of dreaming, but from some dreams being ahead of where technology and fabrication...and funding could take us then.
Then comes the funding issue. NASA funding began a long downward spiral that resulted in putting more risk and investment onto the contractors. Risk and questionable investment to those concerned with stockholder oversight and profits are usually a bad business case. That is why NASA was created. To take that risk and put it on the goverment's shoulders was a way for us to dream.
Failure is the sometimes cost of dreaming and the willingness to go where no one has gone before. We have lost that. Competing priorities, bank failures, and many other recent world events have led us down this road. Sad to say I don't see us returning to those days when exploration and scientific discovery were the pride of our nation.
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