From the Moon landing ... to this.

[c1ue]

Sounds more like a head of the NEA or a bureaucrat in the State Department than the head of Aeronautics and Space...

[lakedaemonian]

Re: From the Moon landing ... to this.

I wonder if an indirect consequence of this stuff is going to lead to a spike in moon landing hoax conspiracies...because listening to this stuff is making it increasingly hard to believe we actually did it.

[Ghent12]

Re: From the Moon landing ... to this.

I saw this on WUWT the other day. Frankly I am not against NASA's role in inspiring children. In fact I think that is the strongest residual return on investment that NASA provides. I know that NASA and military aviation played a significant role in forming my childhood dream of becoming a pilot. Later when I found out I was good at math, I considered becoming an engineer. In two and a half years, I will be both.

I do find it quite peculiar that there were no actual aeronautic or space programs listed among the mandates he was given.

I have a theory about "liberals" (using the term loosely) which is that they have a tendency to assume business as usual will continue no matter what policies they enact. As if taxing profits does not have an impact, or making "inspiration" the top priority of NASA will enhance our knowledge of the Universe.

[c1ue]

Re: From the Moon landing ... to this.

I saw this on WUWT the other day. Frankly I am not against NASA's role in inspiring children. In fact I think that is the strongest residual return on investment that NASA provides. I know that NASA and military aviation played a significant role in forming my childhood dream of becoming a pilot. Later when I found out I was good at math, I considered becoming an engineer. In two and a half years, I will be both.

I do find it quite peculiar that there were no actual aeronautic or space programs listed among the mandates he was given.

I don't have issue with NASA inspiring children.

But I do not see NASA's core competency as marketing.

There are plenty of other areas for which NASA should have competency and could contribute - for example - examining commercial solar technologies and producing a plan for commercial solar efficiency targets.

As NASA has extensive experience with developing and using solar technology, this is something that would both leverage its existing experience and have something to do with its supposed charter.

[BiscayneSunrise]

Re: From the Moon landing ... to this.

You know, I'm a little rusty on my history of mathematics and astronomy but I remember that geometry was pretty much conceived by the Greeks and that algebra was developed by ARABS well, before Islam was born.
It seems they should get their history right first.

[Ghent12]

Re: From the Moon landing ... to this.

You know, I'm a little rusty on my history of mathematics and astronomy but I remember that geometry was pretty much conceived by the Greeks and that algebra was developed by ARABS well, before Islam was born.
It seems they should get their history right first.

No, they do have their history straight. When Europe fell into darkness, the Islamic world became the repository of Ancient Greek knowledge. They also developed upon existing astronomical knowledge, physiological knowledge, and some specialized areas such as optics.

What they need to get straight is their priorities. How can Islamic self-esteem be a priority for NASA? It's just absurd...

[Scot]

Re: From the Moon landing ... to this.

No, they do have their history straight. When Europe fell into darkness, the Islamic world became the repository of Ancient Greek knowledge. They also developed upon existing astronomical knowledge, physiological knowledge, and some specialized areas such as optics.

I think it's interesting that the library of Alexandria had been destroyed many times and yet was each time was restocked by copying books from other collections -- until Islam conquered the Middle East. Islam brought its own dark age.

We can be thankful that some Arab scholars were successful in preserving some of that ancient knowledge.