Donald Trump takes dig at NASA, extols private rocketeers

[Demovictory9]

"Rich guys, they love rocket ships, and that's good," Trump said. "That's better than us paying for it. And I noticed the prices of the last one, that they said it cost $80 million. If the government did it, the same thing would have cost probably 40 or 50 times that amount of money. I mean, literally."

We thought about Trump’s cost-multiplier estimate and wondered if it would cost NASA $3.2 billion to do what the private rockets do.

The comparison is a stretch for several reasons, but as Jason Davis at the Planetary Society put it, the main one is "it’s sort of like comparing a Ford Focus to a Cadillac Escalade."

The private rockets don’t need to go higher than low-Earth orbit. SpaceX, for example, carries supplies to the International Space Station, which is about 250 miles above the earth. With the shorter distance, the rockets can be smaller. The SpaceX Falcon 9 is about 230 feet high.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2018/mar/12/donald-trump/trump-takes-dig-nasa-extols-private-rocketeers/

[Matthew28]

1. There

goes 90% of science that nasa does.

What a cluster f$ck. By the time we get rid of this asshole America will be a hollow out third world country.

[TheMastersNemesis]

2. NASA Sent Astronauts To The Moon 3 or 4 Times & Got Them Back. Saved Appollo 13.

After the GOP got in charge we lost shuttles even though we have many successful ones. We might no have lost any if Reagan and the GOP screwed with NASA. Private rocketeers do not have the money. Profit will over ride safety in the end.

[TeamPooka]

3. Trump would praise mercenaries over US Armed Forces. nt

[BannonsLiver]

4. HE has a strange preoccupation with rockets.

[Blue_Tires]

5. It's only because of the painstaking R+D done

over the course of decades by NASA (the price literally paid in blood on occasion) with the perseverance to keep going even after countless early failures that today's billionaire bros have an architectural framework they can finally (and barely) afford to exploit for private enterprise...

[DavidDvorkin]

6. Yes!

Thank you for pointing that out.

[mercuryblues]

7. wasn't it last Dec he was saying

he was going to bring NASA back, bigger and better than ever before?

[Matthew28]

8. There's

nothing that this bastard doesn't want to destroy. His goal is to weaken America for Russia.

[rustydog]

9. He intends to start a new enterprise: Trump Space Cruises!

It will be as successful as Trump casinos! Steaks! Presidency!