[extropy-chat] Re: NASA going back to the moon

[Elaine Walker]

Hi all,

It thought I'd contribute some information about the pro-space community's 
reaction to NASA's back-to-the-moon plans.

There are very mixed feelings within the pro-space community about NASA's 
back-to-the-moon plans which were just announced. I'm still trying to 
decide where I stand, personally. I tend to agree with SAS's arguments for 
why Apollo style is the wrong way to go, however, I want NASA to succeed 
with this one! It's incredible that NASA has this opportunity! I hope they 
don't muck it up or come up with a dead-end plan. If they don't 
incorporate enough infrastructure (ie. if they build big apollo rockets 
that are thrown away each time) and don't incorporate any orbital assembly 
into the plan (which they'll need if they want to, say, go to Mars 
eventually!), this could be a dead end. This plan was just released and it 
may change. It probably won't change much though. Radical changes within 
NASA would have to occur - people would have to be fired, entire NASA 
offices closed, a mature bureacracy reworked from the inside out - in 
order to do it the RIGHT way. So maybe it's the wrong way or no way at 
all. I'd be interested in your opinions!


The Space Access Society's most recent update has some good arguments for 
why it's a BAD idea for NASA to do it Apollo style. (The Space Access 
Society's sole purpose is to promote radical reductions
in the cost of reaching space.)

      http://www.space-access.org/updates/sau112.html


The National Space Society supports the plan. (NSS has a reputation for 
being NASA's cheerleaders. Although they have tried hard to get away from 
that stereotype in the last few years, they seem to be cheering for NASA 
at the moment.)

      http://nss.org/news/releases/pr20050919.html


I'm not sure yet what the official stance of the Space Frontier Foundation 
is, but I assume it will be somewhere in between... A press release will 
probably pop up soon here:

      http://www.spacefrontierfoundation.org


Just a heads up... When all is said and done, the Space Access Society is 
usually RIGHT - usually the ones to say "We told you so". I've notice that 
with just about every pro-space issue. That scares me in this case because 
I really want NASA to succeed with this one!


-Elaine

----------------------
Elaine Walker
elaine at ziaspace.com

Mars Projects Manager and Advocate
Space Frontier Foundation
http://www.mars-frontier.org
http://www.spacefrontierfoundation.org

Region 8 Chapters Organizer
National Space Society
http://www.nss.org

U.S. Groups Team Leader
Space Program Advisor
Extropy Institute
http://www.extropy.org

Pro-Space-Pop Music
http://www.ziaspace.com/ZIA