6/3/08

Why I Don't Like NASA

As I mentioned in my last post, I am not all that impressed with NASA. I know that it's hard to think about the atmosphere and outer space without thinking about NASA, but that's not what I want to be doing when I grow up: working for NASA.
.
One of the main things NASA is doing is building the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS doesn't serve much function and is a waste of time and money (a single Space Shuttle mission to the ISS costs well over a billion dollars). In the back of NASA's mind I think they hope to unite the world by joining the nations together in space. Well, it's not going to happen. The world is never going to be on perfect terms with itself, and the only way to keep the peace is to arm yourself to the teeth and hope that everyone's too afraid to attack you. Forming friendships with other nations might, or might not, be a good idea. The current Space Shuttle mission to the ISS is delivering a Japanese module. Why are we spending all our time and money and effort for some other country?
.
Anyway, other than the organization, I really like the hardware! The Space Shuttle is probably the most complex machine ever built, and the design will most likely improve in the future, too.

3 comments:

cj said...

I totally agree with you.

Anonymous said...

I also agree with you, especially about the fact that creating an internatin space station won't unite all the coutries--only lead to more problems. Way to speak out!

High Power Rocketry said...

Yes I agree about the ISS fully. I also think the space shuttle was a waste of money and time:

There is a book out there (I have it, forgot the exact name) about the design stage of the space shuttle. During that time, the budget was cut so many times that basically what we got (which technically great) was horribly expensive to operate. That defeats the purpose of a shuttle in the first place (cheap flights)!

So I personally would rather we have gone to Mars and the moon during the 80s rather than focus on the shuttle and ISS. In a perfect world, we would have money for every space project (my dream world) but if not, we have to chose things that produce the best science results.

ShareThis