Is Bush waiting for X-Prize before deciding NASA's future?

But will his decision matter if all America's high-tech jobs get
exported to India? Maybe that's the best solution: have NASA step aside
so that private industry in India can do the job right.

Bar Code wrote:

But will his decision matter if all America's high-tech jobs get
exported to India? Maybe that's the best solution: have NASA step aside
so that private industry in India can do the job right.


Hell, I doubt Bush has even *heard* of the X-Prize....

"Joann Evans" wrote in message
...
Bar Code wrote:

But will his decision matter if all America's high-tech jobs get
exported to India? Maybe that's the best solution: have NASA step aside
so that private industry in India can do the job right.


Hell, I doubt Bush has even *heard* of the X-Prize....

I doubt he could spell it!

--
Alan Erskine
alanerskine(at)optusnet.com.au
"This is a time to try men of force
and vision, and not be confined
exclusively to those who are judged
thoroughly safe by conventional standards."
Winston Churchill, October 19, 1940

"Alan Erskine" wrote in message
...
"Joann Evans" wrote in message
...
Bar Code wrote:

But will his decision matter if all America's high-tech jobs get
exported to India? Maybe that's the best solution: have NASA step
aside
so that private industry in India can do the job right.


Hell, I doubt Bush has even *heard* of the X-Prize....

I doubt he could spell it!


Let's start a wager!

Centurion509 wrote:

He may not have, but some White House staffers have. Check out
http://www.ostp.gov/html/AIAA%20Air%...2007-17-03.pdf.

And in a few months, I suspect Bush himself will have. The Columbia hearings
and Shenzhou 5 should direct at least a tiny bit of media attention toward the
future of human spaceflight, setting the stage for the X-Prize.

I doubt Bush is "waiting" for the X-Prize, but it will hopefully influence the
NASA FY05 budget.

I agree that *successful* X-Prize flights may not help, but could not
hurt. And that the president may even go as far as to issue some brief
written statement of congratualtions to the winner. (I expect to hear
nothing either way, from any NASA offical.) How seriously he takes it
(Because the importance isn't so much in the accomplishment, as in its
implications. The administration may only see it as having no more
relevance to larger space issues, surpassing Mach 1 by a land vehicle, a
while back, did on automotive technology...which would be missing the
point.), will be interesting to see....

"Bar Code" wrote in message
...
But will his decision matter if all America's high-tech jobs get
exported to India? Maybe that's the best solution: have NASA step aside
so that private industry in India can do the job right.

I doubt it. Although a successfull flight to suborbital space with a budget
less than $10million may lead to difficult questions from Congress.

Centurion509 wrote:

NASA officials _already_ have been involved. Goldin spoke at the kickoff.


I'll take your word for that. But I still want to see what, if any
*post* successful flight offical comments there will be.

It's easy to give pats on the back to someone you might not take
seriously, early in the game....

Ultimate Buu wrote:

"Bar Code" wrote in message
...
But will his decision matter if all America's high-tech jobs get
exported to India? Maybe that's the best solution: have NASA step aside
so that private industry in India can do the job right.

I doubt it. Although a successfull flight to suborbital space with a budget
less than $10million may lead to difficult questions from Congress.

Indeed, we can only hope so.....

Joann Evans wrote:
Ultimate Buu wrote:

"Bar Code" wrote in message
...

But will his decision matter if all America's high-tech jobs get
exported to India? Maybe that's the best solution: have NASA step aside
so that private industry in India can do the job right.

I doubt it. Although a successfull flight to suborbital space with a budget
less than $10million may lead to difficult questions from Congress.


Indeed, we can only hope so.....



It should also lead to difficult questions _to_ Congress. Doesn't
abundant pork make proposals more viable on capital hill?

Hop
http://clowder.net/hop/index.html

I was thinking more like it would be easier to dump the problem by pointing to
a private industry success story, and then cancelling the whole lot (NASA
manned flight) and saying that the American way to do things is to let private
industry pick it up (if it is worth doing).

A position like that would look bold and innovative, it would receive TONS of
praise from certain people who are calling for it already.

An X-Prize success would give the Administration the cover it would need to NOT
make such a move look like abandonment.

Even if it would take years for Rutan, Bezos and Carmak to make it to orbit,
that would be ok, because that would stretch the development phase out past the
end of the second term.



Joann Evans wrote:

Centurion509 wrote:

NASA officials _already_ have been involved. Goldin spoke at the kickoff.

I'll take your word for that. But I still want to see what, if any
*post* successful flight offical comments there will be.

It's easy to give pats on the back to someone you might not take
seriously, early in the game....