I watched it live too. It was a beautiful launch. It was also sad, not just because it's the last mission for Discovery, but because all of its stablemates are also being retired without a viable replacement.
The thing is, NASA's problems didn't start with Obama. It was the Bush administration which set a timeline for the retirement of the Shuttle, following the
Columbia disaster. The Shuttle is using 1970s technology, and it is not readily upgradable or expandable. It's overly complex and has been proven to be extremely fragile. We need simpler, more robust manned spacecraft. Constellation was supposed to be the follow-on program, but it was another insanely expensive government boondoggle. Rand Simberg says that its schedule has been slipping by more than one year per year. At that rate, it would
never fly!
NASA was vibrant and dynamic back in the 60s when it was still young, had a hard deadline, and a nearly unlimited budget. But those conditions could never last. Now it's become just another inefficient government bureaucracy and a jobs program in some states.
The problem with government control of spaceflight is that goals and objectives are constantly changing with each new administration, making it impossible to make any real headway. That's an inherent problem with political control and has nothing to do with Obama.
I'm optimistic about our future in space,
IF the free market is allowed to work. We need a market-driven space
industry, not a government-driven space
program. The key goal should be to reduce the cost per launch, and neither Shuttle nor Constellation--nor a resurrected Saturn V--will do that.
I have no doubt in my mind that Obama's hostility to NASA is motivated by his overwhelming need to dismantle all the conspicuous signs of American excellence and achievement. Now NASA is reduced to bumming rides from the Russians and conducting Muslim outreach.
I agree with that. The "Muslim outreach" bit is especially bizarre. It's the strongest evidence yet that he is either a Muslim himself or at least a Muslim sympathizer.
As for bumming rides from the Russians, SpaceX's Dragon is intended to begin flying human crews in three to four years. Remember that we had a
six-year gap between the last Apollo in 1975 (the Apollo-Soyuz flight) and the first Shuttle launch in 1981. And back then, bumming rides from the Russians was not an option. So don't despair!
