NASA in Colbert conundrum over Space Station

[Feenix566]

NASA in Colbert conundrum over Space Station
Mon Mar 30, 2009 2:35pm EDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA's outreach to the public to drum up interest in the International Space Station started innocently enough with an online contest to name the station's new living quarters.

But Stephen Colbert, a comedian who poses as an ultra right-wing news commentator on cable television's Comedy Central, nosed into the act with a grass-roots appeal that has backed the staid U.S. space agency into a corner.

The comedian's supporters cast 230,539 write-in votes to name the new module at the $100-billion space outpost "Colbert." The top NASA-suggested name, "Serenity," finished a distant second, more than 40,000 votes behind.

Contest rules stipulate that the agency retains the right to basically do whatever it wants, but it may not be that easy.

Last week, U.S. Representative Chaka Fattah, a Pennsylvania Democrat, called on NASA to do the democratic thing and use the name that drew the most votes.

"NASA decided to hold an election to name its new room at the International Space Station and the clear winner is Stephen Colbert," Fattah said in a statement. "The people have spoken, and Stephen Colbert won it fair and square -- even if his campaign was a bit over the top."

NASA is taking some time to ponder its next move.

"We have a plan and we're working with some folks and in a couple of weeks you'll know what the answer is," NASA's associate administrator Bill Gerstenmaier said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE52T5TN20090330?rpc=64

That's hilarious!

Now for the libertarian slant: I don't think space exploration is an appropriate use of taxpayer money. A lot of people are starting to see it that way. That's why NASA is so underfunded.

Our investment capital could be better spent investing in private economic development. When the free market propels us into space, (which it is) then that will be the appropriate time for us to be in space.

People say that the Apollo moon landing was an important step in the United States' victory in the cold war. I disagree. The cold war was a race to impress the rest of the world with the virtues of capitalism. If American tax dollars had not been taken from the people and spent on the Apollo program, that investment capital would have been spent on improving the economy at the direction of the free market. It would have improved our standard of living much more effectively that way than it did through NASA. Enjoying a higher standard of living has always been a better way to impress your neighbors than landing on the moon.

 

[brandon]

I'm so glad my congressman could find time to make a public statement on this very pressing issue facing our federal government.

 

[Feenix566]

I'd rather see Congress members spending their time thinking about this than figuring out ever-more-creative ways to get my paycheck into their buddies' wallets.

 

[Mesogen]

People say that the Apollo moon landing was an important step in the United States' victory in the cold war. I disagree.

So do I.

Fuck the cold war.

Landing men on the moon was an important step in the development of humans as a species. I don't really give a fuck if it was done with tax money or whatever petty reasons some people had for doing it.

So then the next important step will be when people land on the moon (or some other body, but most likely the moon) without using tax money.

 

[idiom]

Now for the libertarian slant: I don't think space exploration is an appropriate use of taxpayer money. A lot of people are starting to see it that way. That's why NASA is so underfunded.

Our investment capital could be better spent investing in private economic development. When the free market propels us into space, (which it is) then that will be the appropriate time for us to be in space.

Most people think Nasa gets 24% of the federal budget. When asked what they think Nasa should get, the tend to say ~10%. Nasa Actually gets 0.6% of the budget. Or it did back in 2007 before the budget went Godzilla on us.