McCain base

cIclops · 2008-03-08 18:08:48

Just a simple idea. It would not be expensive for an enterprising presidential candidate to offer to fund NASA's new space system and to fully support the Moon & Mars program. This would have two advantages for the next president:

1. By boosting funding, Orion/Ares would fly during their presidency, they could take credit for this

2. By fully funding exploration and accelerating the Moon and Mars program, they get the Lunar Outpost named after them.

So maybe it will be called McCain Base.

Commodore · 2008-03-09 17:55:28

In an era were presidential politics is an exercise in bribing voters with rhetoric, if it doesn't put a new car in the driveway, and a big screen on the wall, it's unlikely to help.

If properly funded, Orion could probably fly by the end of his first term, and the first lunar sortie by the end of his second.

I don't think he's out for a plaque really.

cIclops · 2008-03-10 07:25:29

It seems unlikely because of his age that McCain will go two terms. But yes with full funding 2016 might just be possible, but NASA would need a big boost in funding so work on Ares V and Altair can start ASAP. Nearly all politicians like to be immortalized, however McCain does seem modest so maybe he's an exception. It seems even more unlikely that he would refuse to have his name on the Moon base.

Tom Kalbfus · 2008-05-02 10:43:08

It seems more likely that the base would be named after him posthumously if he played a major role in its construction, just like the Kennedy Space Center was named after that President had died. Its a little crass to name something after a living politician who is still in office, and it might even create reflexive opposition from Democrats, who are now suffering from Bush-bashing syndrome, and are making every effort to transfer that to McCain, and anything with McCain's name on it, they'll likely try to bash as well, otherwise they might simply adopt a program inherited from a previous administraton, which is what we want.

A Mars Program will likely have to last through both Republican and Democratic Administrations, Republican and Democratic Congresses and Senates, for the best longevity of the program, it is best to keep it above partisan politics, the main exception is if a President dies while in office while pursuing this goal.

cIclops · 2008-05-03 02:03:55

If McCain became president and got excited about Moon and Mars and announced a high priority program and the funding, it would enormously help. Even though Bush launched the VSE and set human exploration of Mars set as a goal, he didn't appropriate funds.

The VSE timing was bad because of the enormous cost of the WOT, yet this may change in the next few years. There's a big opportunity to convince the next president to fully support the space program. It's important that everyone pushes for this and pushes for a truly big increase in funding for the whole program, both exploration and science.

Commodore · 2008-05-03 06:15:19

The War on Terror is not going to go away, even if we stop fighting it for a season. If we stop, Islamic fascists will have even less reason to. The enormous cost of the war is largely caused by the fact that we were not spend enough on the military before it. How do we regularly spend $400-500billion, and then have to spend another $100 billion a year just to use it? To Bushes credit, he hasn't allowed this to interfere with security of the country. On the other hand he's done nothing to remedy this. And yes, because he's got friends who can pick up the slack.

The funding for space will come from the vast waste in the rest of the federal budget. Increase military spending to half the current federal budget, constitutionally limit the role of government to national infrastructure and consolidate local and state government into branches of the federal hierarchy, and pay for it with the other half. You'll have a vibrant, secure economy no longer burdened by government waste and able to lead the way to a bright future on Earth and in space.

In turn, that will do more than bombs and bullets ever could.

cIclops · 2008-05-03 07:03:10

WOT may not go away for a long time, but it's unlikely to be so expensive. Once Iraq is stabalized the cost will drop very quickly.

Hopefully the US will need not need to invade another country, with the possible exception of Iran. If it becomes necessary to remove the Mullahs there's a far more unified population to take over.

Tom Kalbfus · 2008-05-03 11:43:14

I think there's a good case to be made for the Air Force to take over the Manned Space Program. Change the name of the Air Force to the Aerospace Force, and put them in charge of all the manned missions, transfer all the scientists and engineers working on these programs to the Aerospace Force, and leave all the unmanned space probes to NASA. This will leave more money to be spend by NASA on unmanned space missions and leave the scientists happy, while the manned space missions will be treated as military operations because their dangerous and human life is at risk. I think astronauts ought to be soldiers and understand they are putting their lives at risk, having a civilian scientist expecting to be perfectly safe while going on a space mission is going to increase public expectations of safety to unrealistic levels. I also think the Air Force has an undeveloped routine of doing things with reguards to manned space missions, and this will lead to a fresh look at things, and to perhaps cheaper space missions. Just a thought.

Gregori · 2008-05-04 05:44:15

WOT may not go away for a long time, but it's unlikely to be so expensive. Once Iraq is stabalized the cost will drop very quickly.
Hopefully the US will need not need to invade another country, with the possible exception of Iran. If it becomes necessary to remove the Mullahs there's a far more unified population to take over.

It didn't need to invade a country...

cIclops · 2008-05-04 05:57:19

It didn't need to invade a country...

We can discuss that in Free Chat.

cIclops · 2008-05-17 04:54:18

Looks like McCain lost out in the race to get the Lunar Outpost named.

Tom, note that tradition has been broken this time!

(b) Designation- The United States portion of the first human-tended outpost established on the surface of the Moon shall be designated the `Neil A. Armstrong Lunar Outpost'.

Full 2008 NASA Authorization Act here

Gregori · 2008-05-17 08:11:26

That seems rather appropriate, since he was the first guy there.

cIclops · 2008-05-17 09:39:25

Yeah, very appropriate indeed and it costs Congress nothing. It'll probably get shortened to 'Armstrong'.

Note how they have added a clause saying that the Outpost must not need to be permanently occupied - that's really helpful huh.

Gregori · 2008-05-17 17:14:43

Meh! I wouldn't put too much hope in finding a president is who 'excited about space' to help with NASA's funding.

The public kinda doesn't care too much about manned space mission atm because we haven't got further than the Moon again and attempts to get to Mars are far far far away, like a couple of decades.

There are no near term economic or millitary goals to be gained from focusing on a manned space program, so the goverment just doesn't give a shit. Because the Cold War is over, there is no advesary to show off against either.

Until one of these conditions change NASA is going to seriously underfunded for a long time.

I think the public could get behind the idea if a manned mission to Mars was planned to happen before 2020. Getting the government behind the idea is proabably the biggest problem.

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#1 2008-03-08 18:08:48

Re: McCain base

#2 2008-03-09 17:55:28

Re: McCain base

#3 2008-03-10 07:25:29

Re: McCain base

#4 2008-05-02 10:43:08

Re: McCain base

#5 2008-05-03 02:03:55

Re: McCain base

#6 2008-05-03 06:15:19

Re: McCain base

#7 2008-05-03 07:03:10

Re: McCain base

#8 2008-05-03 11:43:14

Re: McCain base

#9 2008-05-04 05:44:15

Re: McCain base

#10 2008-05-04 05:57:19

Re: McCain base

#11 2008-05-17 04:54:18

Re: McCain base

#12 2008-05-17 08:11:26

Re: McCain base

#13 2008-05-17 09:39:25

Re: McCain base

#14 2008-05-17 17:14:43

Re: McCain base

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