hmm.. warning...?
Feb. 4th, 2003 12:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amezriThis is angry, bitter, annoyed, and slanted to only what I know thus far and my own bias. Meh. feel free to read and respond.
Apparently the space program has cost 17 lives. Watching ABC News - they're asking why we continue this and if it's worth the cost.
Okay, first of all, if we didn't send our astronauts into space in a craft that's already been up there 20+ times, maybe a piece of foam wouldn't have flown off and the landing gear wouldn't have gotten messed up. Why do they have to reuse the shuttle? 'Cause NASA is freakin' poor. The space program only gets 1% of the national budget ($15 billion) and has been cut 40% since 1999. And when something like Columbia happens, the budget gets cut more and the program is threatened.
Where were all these grand ideals about cost of life vs. technological advancement when Chinese people were building your damn railroads? A white guy dies during construction and I bet it was all "oh, no! Let's stop and get him buried!" Chinese guy dies and they just build right over him.
And I'm sorry, but FOAM?! Anyway, this is only the second accident to occur. Considering we're going to space and reentering the atmosphere, it's not that bad. The highway has a higher death rate. We still cram groups of men into a tin-can submarine even though there have been numerous sub accidents.
"Why should we go to space?" Earth resources are being used up at an insane rate. When it's bled try, what then? We just sit on this dust ball and rot? Space is where we need to go.. to spread our human pollution (but that's another rant all together). If nothing else, maybe we could build some kind of space station or colony on the moon. Hell, terraform Mars, I don't care. We won't be able to stay here forever and no politician or egotistical leader will be able to change that.
As for all this media coverage - like I said, I didn't even know Columbia was up there. If not for the accident, I doubt I would have even known it came down. They're "heroes" now because they died in a huge ball of fire thousands of miles above Earth. Would they really be heroes if they landed safely with their little experiments and token monority? I doubt it would even make page 3.
Hmm.. forgot where I was going with this... *shrug* Just a rant I needed to get out anyway.
Apparently the space program has cost 17 lives. Watching ABC News - they're asking why we continue this and if it's worth the cost.
Okay, first of all, if we didn't send our astronauts into space in a craft that's already been up there 20+ times, maybe a piece of foam wouldn't have flown off and the landing gear wouldn't have gotten messed up. Why do they have to reuse the shuttle? 'Cause NASA is freakin' poor. The space program only gets 1% of the national budget ($15 billion) and has been cut 40% since 1999. And when something like Columbia happens, the budget gets cut more and the program is threatened.
Where were all these grand ideals about cost of life vs. technological advancement when Chinese people were building your damn railroads? A white guy dies during construction and I bet it was all "oh, no! Let's stop and get him buried!" Chinese guy dies and they just build right over him.
And I'm sorry, but FOAM?! Anyway, this is only the second accident to occur. Considering we're going to space and reentering the atmosphere, it's not that bad. The highway has a higher death rate. We still cram groups of men into a tin-can submarine even though there have been numerous sub accidents.
"Why should we go to space?" Earth resources are being used up at an insane rate. When it's bled try, what then? We just sit on this dust ball and rot? Space is where we need to go.. to spread our human pollution (but that's another rant all together). If nothing else, maybe we could build some kind of space station or colony on the moon. Hell, terraform Mars, I don't care. We won't be able to stay here forever and no politician or egotistical leader will be able to change that.
As for all this media coverage - like I said, I didn't even know Columbia was up there. If not for the accident, I doubt I would have even known it came down. They're "heroes" now because they died in a huge ball of fire thousands of miles above Earth. Would they really be heroes if they landed safely with their little experiments and token monority? I doubt it would even make page 3.
Hmm.. forgot where I was going with this... *shrug* Just a rant I needed to get out anyway.
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no subject
Date: 2003-02-03 09:32 pm (UTC)Jen
Re:
Date: 2003-02-03 09:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-04 03:17 pm (UTC)Ew! Why don't they question continuing military involvement overseas?!?! SO many more lives have been lost that way...