Neil Armstrong labels NASA "embarrassing"

karaokeman

It has been announced the first man to walk on the moon has come out and criticized the US Space Agency.

I read another report about him wanting NASA to return to the moon as opposed to Obama's plan to travel to an asteroid, which I don't blame him for. That is probably partly the reason why he's been so outspoken.

http://news.discovery.com/space/armstrong-congress-nasa-embarrassing-110922.html

The main points of this article are in the words of Neil;
"For a country that has invested so much for so long to achieve a leadership position in space exploration and exploitation, this condition is viewed by many as lamentably embarrassing and unacceptable."

coylemj

The U.S. is broke, the Congress is deadlocked on just about everything and they have a huge deficit so don't expect them to give any money to NASA to go anywhere soon.

Most of the Republican candidates for the Presidency don't believe in climate change or even evolution so selling them the benefits of space exploration is well nigh impossible.

Batsy

Man-made climate change is not happening, so the Republicans are right not to believe in it (they aren't as gullible as the Global Warmists).

And we have been told for decades that nothing can travel faster than light and that anyone saying that Einstein was wrong in saying so and that things CAN travel faster than light was often labelled a loon.

Now what has happened? Scientists at CERN have discovered that they can make neutrinos travel faster than light, and so it appears that Einstein was wrong.

Therefore it makes sense that considering we have shown that Einstein was wrong about nothing being able to travel faster than light then we may one day discover that Darwin was wrong about the existence of evolution.

hangon

karaokeman wrote: »

It has been announced the first man to walk on the moon has come out and criticized the US Space Agency.

believe it or not Armstrong has being criticising the new direction for NASA announced by Obama since the Augustine commission into the future of NASA was published.
this would not be so strange except he kept his mouth shut for decades due to a natural shyness and deep patriotism. some of his outbursts have been extraordinary but deeply sincere for over two years now.

coylemj wrote: »

The U.S. is broke, the Congress is deadlocked on just about everything and they have a huge deficit so don't expect them to give any money to NASA to go anywhere soon

Congress has given NASA a hugh budget 3 billion of which will be spent per year on Constellation's replacement the newly announced Space Launch System.most experts agree it is a bit of a dogs dinner.
its first flight is due for 2017 with much of its hardware made up from bits taken from two of the Shuttles innards and for its upper stage a rocket built for Constellation, its next flight is due in 2021,the plan being to orbit the Moon unmanned
most experts agree that even its maiden flight will not happen.
much of the NASA budget is now being spent subsidising private companies to develop Spacecrafts designed to reach only a very low orbit.
America taking back the power to resupply the Space Station with cargo and crew.

Batsy wrote: »

Man-made climate change is not happening, so the Republicans are right not to believe in it (they aren't as gullible as the Global Warmists).

And we have been told for decades that nothing can travel faster than light and that anyone saying that Einstein was wrong in saying so and that things CAN travel faster than light was often labelled a loon.

Now what has happened? Scientists at CERN have discovered that they can make neutrinos travel faster than light, and so it appears that Einstein was wrong.

Therefore it makes sense that considering we have shown that Einstein was wrong about nothing being able to travel faster than light then we may one day discover that Darwin was wrong about the existence of evolution.

CERNS results have a long way to go before being confirmed:),but would turn everything on its head including the big bang theory and anybody with a degree in Physics may as well burn their certificates:)

The problem for NASA is their budget will proably drop year by year unless some kind of imperative is found to get back into space exploration.
IMO some threat to the planet by either a foreign power or an Earth shattering Asteroid is spotted heading our way.

research projects will go on the back-burner for a long time now due to the economy IMO,its a mess and a shame but just too expensive a luxury sadly.

coylemj

hangon wrote: »

The problem for NASA is their budget will proably drop year by year unless some kind of imperative is found to get back into space exploration.
IMO some threat to the planet by either a foreign power or an Earth shattering Asteroid is spotted heading our way.

If NASA announced that an asteroid was on a collision course with Earth, the Tea Party Republicans and Fox News would probably claim it was a conspiracy by the Democrats so they'd shove their heads in the sand and ignore it.

expectationlost

armstrong is still fighting the cold war

hangon

expectationlost wrote: »

armstrong is still fighting the cold war

If you had said that about many other Astronauts or Cosmonauts i probaly would have agreed.
Armstrong was never full of ego and found being in the public eye very uncomfortable,he always said that him being the first man on the Moon as being pure fluke,only for the deadline of the end of the decade and worries that CCCP might usurp 11 he could well have been Apollo 12's commander.

He was a test pilot at heart and an academic,he only flew two flights before going back to lecturing.He also was asked to be part of the investigation board who investigated Challenger
He is a bit of a fascinating character,also he is a bit of an enigma IMO.

expectationlost

american exceptionalism is bred into americans, armstrong too.