New NASA boss: Astronauts on Mars in his lifetime

[bananas]

Source: AP

<snip>

Bolden said in an interview that his main job over the next few months will be to champion an "agreed-upon compromise strategy to get first to Mars and then beyond. And we don't have that yet."

Bolden met with President Barack Obama on Monday, and some experts said he seems to be signaling a refocusing of NASA's general exploration plan.

A former astronaut, Bolden also vowed to extend the life of the international space station beyond 2016, the year the Bush administration planned to abandon it.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2009/07/21/national/a120046D63.DTL

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More at http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/2009/07/bolden_wants_to.html

[zbdent]

1. wait for it ...

Repugs will start screaming about how Obama's wasting taxpayers' money ...

[jakeXT]

2. If they can fix the ISS toilet they can go to MARS, sure

Astronauts Don Protective Gear to Fix ISS Toilet

Space station astronauts repaired a broken toilet in the U.S Destiny laboratory today, avoiding a potentially messy situation. With the shuttle-space station complex currently home to a record combined crew of 13 astronauts and cosmonauts, fixing the toilet was of utmost importance. ISS crew members Gennady Padalka and Frank De Winne were told to don safety goggles and protective gear before opening the toilet's access panels. They replaced a half-dozen components during work Sunday and Monday repairing the defective toilet with spare parts on the orbiting outpost.
http://www.universetoday.com/2009/07/20/astronauts-don-protective-gear-to-fix-iss-toilet/

[Vinca]

3. Please, sir, may we get to see the doctor first??

[DeadEyeDyck]

4. Mars is cool but

shouldn't we get to the moon first!

[drm604]

11. My understanding is that we'll return to the Moon first as a stepping stone to Mars. n/t

[TrogL]

38. Why bother - it's two completely different missions and "been there done that"

There's no point in spending the billions required to build (there's no point in using obsolete Apollo technology) something capable of going to the moon that won't be suitable for a trip to Mars.

On the flipside, a Mars-capable vehicle would likely be unsuitable for Moon landing eg. no atmosphere, different gravity and soil.

[No Elephants]

5. The head of NASA makes spending decisions and policy? I am not sure he should be spending

several months, at taxpayer expense for him and his whole operation, trying to convince the President and Congress to do this, especially at this time.

Either this guy is overstepping on a grandiose scale or another one of those three dimensional chess games is underway.

[comtec]

6. Earth Firsters in

3
2
:popcorn:

[Bankhead_ATL]

7. I would like to see us make it to the Delta Quadrant in my life time

[Odin2005]

8. We would have been on Mars 20 years ago had the anti-spending Nazis not have their way.

[scheming daemons]

9. I hate when people say "in my lifetime"... what if he gets hit by a bus tomorrow?

[DavidDvorkin]

10. Well, it's catchier and pithier than

"In my statistically normally expected lifetime, barring accident, illness, war, act of God, ... "

[Posteritatis]

24. To be fair, that would make a success even more impressive (nt)

[No Elephants]

32. If he gets hit by a bus tomorrow, then his lifetime will be over

and so will his hope of seeeing us make it to the Delta Quadrant before he dies. People don't always get what they hope for. Pretty simple.

It would never occur to me to hate something as innocuous an expression. I save hate for things like war criminals. Lighten up. You'll live longer.

;)

[jimlup]

12. I'm concerned that this is the wrong emphasis

Mars is a great goal for political purposes but it doesn't have any scientific value. The science can be done more effectively with robotic probes. The success of the Mars rovers proves this conclusively. Getting people to Mars would be nothing but a political stunt. Returning from Mars is extremely difficult and means that going at all should include setting up a permanent base. Since this is very unlikely with current technology and funding going to Mars is pie in the sky.

Let's go back to the moon and put a permanent human presence there but let's not follow the one shot mistake of Apollo with another one shot political mistake.

[Robb]

13. It would be way more than a political stunt

...it would be a FREAKING AWESOME political stunt. :D

Put another way, I agree with you, reluctantly.

[jimlup]

15. Yeah, I'd like to go too...

Or at least watch the video from those who do but I don't think it should happen in my lifetime unless there is a major technological breakthrough.

[GeorgeGist]

14. Why not get beyond Mars ...

and make Earth agreeable first?

[and-justice-for-all]

16. That could be 20 to 30 years out..

so lets not panic like it is going to happen tomorrow.

[no limit]

17. Why do we need man on mars? Robots are cheaper and work just as well

I odnt understand this mentallity that we have to step on mars. What the hell for?

[Codeine]

21. To inspire people.

How many young people decided to become scientists and engineers in the wake of the Apollo program? What makes hearts soar more grandly, robot cars or human feet on alien ground?

[no limit]

25. To inspire people? What are we, all little kids?

We need to grow up. The money we would spend on a maned mars program can go in to health care or other more important things.

[Codeine]

29. Inspiration is part of the human experience.

Remember how you felt on Election Night?

[no limit]

30. I really don't buy that

I felt pretty good on election night, inspired? Not really.

[Codeine]

36. Millions of young people were inspired.

And the fruits of that inspiration will only be apparent a decade or more from now.

[dysfunctional press]

26. the cost doesn't warrant it.

to send humans to mars requires sending MONTHS worth of food, water, and air for each person. they'll only have a brief time on the surface- to do what? the only one of their senses that they'll be able to use is sight, as far as experiencing mars is concerned- and robotic cameras are far superior, ability-wise.

[jimlup]

28. We could give science scholarships to poetry students

and get a much better return of scientists and engineers for our dollar. Going to Mars is not like Apollo - it is a MUCH more costly endeavor. We would need to setup a permanent presence to even begin to justify going and that is very expensive. Sure, I'd rather we go to Mars than have a war against a country like Oh, say, Iraq but that choice doesn't seem to be on the table.

[Gregorian]

18. Stupid.

I have more respect for this guy than for all of the scientists who drive to their little NASA jobs every day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5smPcN8AoE

[bananas]

20. Funny you link to "Whitey on the Moon" when neither Bolden nor Obama are white...

and the Chinese have their own manned moon mission.
"Gil and I are cool now" - Buzz Aldrin

Making of Buzz Aldrin's Rocket Experience w/ Snoop Dogg and Talib Kweli
Buzz Aldrin is an astronaut, a hero, and a hip hop legend. He hits the studio with Snoop Dogg and Talib Kweli to record his latest track, Rocket Experience. Quincy Jones and Soulja Boy also weigh in on Buzz's lyrical genius and impact on the music world.

[Gregorian]

22. Hahaha. BUZZ!

That's pretty cool.

[No Elephants]

35. He didn't link to Whitey in the Oval Office. Were you expecting Obama to become an Astronaut?

[RobertSeattle]

19. Make it a one way trip and I'm all for it

They'll have plenty of volunteers even if there is no guarantee return.

[L. Coyote]

23. Maybe we should pay our debts and educate our children first.

Instead of expecting our uneducated grandchildren to pay our debts!

[dysfunctional press]

27. what a fucking waste of resources.

if they want to go to mars- send robotic instruments

the money involved in sending people can be put to MUCH better use here on this planet.

[KakistocracyHater]

31. I thought an article in Discover magazine said "too much rads for human flesh"

? That the size of the shields to block radiation would have to be humongus-impossibly large. Unless they build it in space? 'An ocean in a bottle' is what it sounded like. Outside of Earth's protective magnetic shield, Humans would fry & die. What's changed?

[Owl]

33. Unfortunately we're bankrupt; puts a damper on lofty stuff like this.

[Mari333]

34. let him pay for it. nt

[harun]

37. Send more robots. They can't do what you want, make better ones.