[ExI] Americans clueless on NASA budgets

Amara Graps amara at amara.com
Fri Jan 4 07:51:02 UTC 2008


To hopefully correct some misinformation for Americans and others.

NASA 2008 Budget Expanded Explanation
--Some here might find the the 'Earmarks' section of the budget
especially interesting.

http://planetarypolicy.org/fy08_analysis.html

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Plus two related NASA News articles:
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Wielding a Cost-Cutting Ax, and Often at NASA
--about Alan Stern

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/science/space/01stern.html

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Planning NASA's Future   Physics Today subscriber article (if you
don't have a subscription, ask me and I can send you the article)

Interview with Michael Griffin, conducted by Paul Guinnessy at
NASA headquarters, Washington DC, Tuesday November 13, 2007

Abstract
http://ptonline.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?prog=normal&id=PHTOAD000061000001000033000001&idtype=cvips&gifs=Yes

When NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe announced his retirement in
December 2004 to become chancellor of Louisiana State University, NASA
was still reeling from the 2003 loss of the space shuttle Columbia,
strained relations with the science community, and upcoming tough budget
decisions. The White House quickly chose Michael D. Griffin, a 35-year
career veteran in both NASA and the commercial space industry, to head
the agency. PHYSICS TODAY recently interviewed Griffin at NASA
headquarters in Washington, DC (a full transcript is available on the
PHYSICS TODAY website). ©2008 American Institute of Physics

Full transcript of Michael Griffin interview

Published in the Physics Today January 2008 edition.
Copyright: American Institute of Physics 
2008http://ptonline.aip.org/journals/doc/PHTOAD-ft/vol_61/iss_1/33_1s.shtml

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>  "Stefano Vaj" <stefano.vaj at gmail.com>, Tue, 20 Nov 2007 23:16:38 +0100
>Subject: [ExI] Americans clueless on NASA budgets
>
>Americans clueless on NASA budgetsSpace: Not as expensive as you thinkBy Lucy
>Sherriff<http://forms.theregister.co.uk/mail_author/?story_url=/2007/11/19/nasa_budgets/>
>?
>More by this author<http://search.theregister.co.uk/?author=Lucy%20Sherriff>
>Published Monday 19th November 2007 17:17 GMT
>
>A recent survey, carried out on behalf of *The Space Review*, has revealed
>that the average American believes a quarter of the country's public purse
>goes towards funding NASA.
>
>The survey found that most people reported the belief that NASA is almost as
>well funded as the military. The Department of Defense does receive roughly
>21 per cent of the nation's wonga, but most people overestimated this by a
>further 12 per cent.
>
>In reality, NASA gets something like 0.6 per cent of the natonal budget, a
>fact which researchers report came as a surprise to those being surveyed.
>According to *The Space Review*, one participant replied "No wonder we
>haven't gone anywhere!".
>
>The survey formed part of a larger
>analysis<http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1000/1>of the costs and
>benefits of having a publicly funded space agency. The
>writers argue that people have scant knowledge of what NASA actually does.
>Combined with the huge overestimates of the cost of running NASA, it is not
>surprising that people often regard it as being poor value for money. (R)
>Bootnote
>
>We'd like to add, before the anti-American/pro-American flame wars begin,
>that we're pretty sure similar levels of daftness pervade our own
>population. Have you ever watched *Big Brother*? Probably best not to mock *
>too* loudly. (R)
>http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/19/nasa_budgets/

-- 

Amara Graps, PhD      www.amara.com
Research Scientist, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Boulder, Colorado



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