The Usual Suspects

....is the title of my latest Fox column.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,101186,00.html

--
simberg.interglobal.org * 310 372-7963 (CA) 307 739-1296 (Jackson Hole)
interglobal space lines * 307 733-1715 (Fax) http://www.interglobal.org

"Extraordinary launch vehicles require extraordinary markets..."
Swap the first . and @ and throw out the ".trash" to email me.
Here's my email address for autospammers:

h (Rand Simberg) wrote in message . ..
...is the title of my latest Fox column.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,101186,00.html

Let me get this straight...the usual suspects are people who have
experience in working with NASA, right?

Gee, it's almst like, when considering what to do with the current
space bureaucracy, Congress prefers to hear from people who have
experience with bureaucracy, and who have ideas with what to do with
it-- as opposed to those who believe NASA should be dismantled.
Congress, unlike some talking heads, understands that any attempt to
use government to accomplish an end is going to result in a fair
amount of bureaucracy, for better and worse.

Personally, I'm grateful for the paternalistic cold-war mindset that
gave us satellite TV, the internet, GPS, and yes, the understanding
that man is fully capable of exploring other planets and surviving.
None of those suborbital startups would exist if it wasn't for the
inspiration of NASA to begin with in the first place.

And yes, although people are happy to spend a lot more on pizza than
space, people are also happy to spend a lot more on pizza than roads,
port facilities, airports, police etc. People don't like to give away
money for ANYTHING that they can't see the direct results of--until
all the sudden it's in their face toppling the twin towers...which is
why, in a republic, we elect people to spend most of their time
figuring out how to spend the public money so that they don't have to
worry about it all the time. Thank god for politicians. I'm going
canoeing.

Tom Merkle

On Mon, 27 Oct 2003 15:13:38 -0800 (PST), in a place far, far away,
(Tom Merkle) made the phosphor on my monitor glow in
such a way as to indicate that:

(Rand Simberg) wrote in message . ..
...is the title of my latest Fox column.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,101186,00.html

Let me get this straight...the usual suspects are people who have
experience in working with NASA, right?

Yup.

Gee, it's almst like, when considering what to do with the current
space bureaucracy, Congress prefers to hear from people who have
experience with bureaucracy, and who have ideas with what to do with
it--

I didn't hear any ideas about what to do with the bureaucracy, and I
didn't hear any new ideas at all.

--
simberg.interglobal.org * 310 372-7963 (CA) 307 739-1296 (Jackson Hole)
interglobal space lines * 307 733-1715 (Fax) http://www.interglobal.org

"Extraordinary launch vehicles require extraordinary markets..."
Swap the first . and @ and throw out the ".trash" to email me.
Here's my email address for autospammers:

On Mon, 27 Oct 2003 15:28:11 -0800 (PST), in a place far, far away,
h (Rand Simberg) made the phosphor on my
monitor glow in such a way as to indicate that:

On Mon, 27 Oct 2003 15:13:38 -0800 (PST), in a place far, far away,
(Tom Merkle) made the phosphor on my monitor glow in
such a way as to indicate that:

(Rand Simberg) wrote in message . ..
...is the title of my latest Fox column.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,101186,00.html

Let me get this straight...the usual suspects are people who have
experience in working with NASA, right?

Yup.

Actually, I should expand. After all *I* have plenty of experience
working with NASA.

The usual suspects are the bureaucrats (or former bureaucrats)
themselves, and largely the same people who are asked to testify
repeatedly.

--
simberg.interglobal.org * 310 372-7963 (CA) 307 739-1296 (Jackson Hole)
interglobal space lines * 307 733-1715 (Fax) http://www.interglobal.org

"Extraordinary launch vehicles require extraordinary markets..."
Swap the first . and @ and throw out the ".trash" to email me.
Here's my email address for autospammers:

"Tom Merkle" wrote in message
om...

None of those suborbital startups would exist if it wasn't for the
inspiration of NASA to begin with in the first place.

The suborbital startups would probably have taken place decades ago
if not for the bad examples that NASA set. The People That Do
Things are not inspired by massive programs that they are excluded
from.

The suborbital startups would probably have taken place decades ago
if not for the bad examples that NASA set.

Here's what Jeff Bezos has to say on the issue (Wired, July 03):

"The only reason I'm interested in space is because NASA inspired me when I was
5 years old," he says. "The only reason any of these small space companies have
a chance of doing anything is because they get to stand on the shoulders of
NASA's ingenuity."

This is just the opinion of one man, of course, but a man who is spending
millions on a secret rocket company...

On 28 Oct 2003 01:05:30 GMT, in a place far, far away,
(Centurion509) made the phosphor on my monitor
glow in such a way as to indicate that:

The suborbital startups would probably have taken place decades ago
if not for the bad examples that NASA set.

Here's what Jeff Bezos has to say on the issue (Wired, July 03):

"The only reason I'm interested in space is because NASA inspired me when I was
5 years old," he says. "The only reason any of these small space companies have
a chance of doing anything is because they get to stand on the shoulders of
NASA's ingenuity."

This is just the opinion of one man, of course, but a man who is spending
millions on a secret rocket company...

Even if it's true that a young space agency inspired some people a few
decades ago, it doesn't justify continuing to pour billions into it in
its dotage. I don't necessarily advocate ending it, but it badly
needs mending, and I saw nothing in that testimony that offered any
useful, or novel suggestions to do so.

--
simberg.interglobal.org * 310 372-7963 (CA) 307 739-1296 (Jackson Hole)
interglobal space lines * 307 733-1715 (Fax) http://www.interglobal.org

"Extraordinary launch vehicles require extraordinary markets..."
Swap the first . and @ and throw out the ".trash" to email me.
Here's my email address for autospammers:

In other words, the space people that you like are smarter than the
space people that Congress likes. If only you were in charge of the
Space Program!



"johnhare" wrote in message m...
"Tom Merkle" wrote in message
om...

None of those suborbital startups would exist if it wasn't for the
inspiration of NASA to begin with in the first place.

The suborbital startups would probably have taken place decades ago
if not for the bad examples that NASA set. The People That Do
Things are not inspired by massive programs that they are excluded
from.

"Explorer8939" wrote in message
om...
In other words, the space people that you like are smarter than the
space people that Congress likes. If only you were in charge of the
Space Program!

I am in charge of my own space program, no other.


"johnhare" wrote in message
m...
"Tom Merkle" wrote in message
om...

None of those suborbital startups would exist if it wasn't for the
inspiration of NASA to begin with in the first place.

The suborbital startups would probably have taken place decades ago
if not for the bad examples that NASA set. The People That Do
Things are not inspired by massive programs that they are excluded
from.

"Centurion509" wrote in message
...


The suborbital startups would probably have taken place decades ago
if not for the bad examples that NASA set.

Here's what Jeff Bezos has to say on the issue (Wired, July 03):

"The only reason I'm interested in space is because NASA inspired me when
I was
5 years old," he says. "The only reason any of these small space companies
have
a chance of doing anything is because they get to stand on the shoulders
of
NASA's ingenuity."

This is just the opinion of one man, of course, but a man who is spending
millions on a secret rocket company...
Ok, lets throw in an opinion of the other man:
"The mere allusion to NASA sets Rutan off with the fire of a Southern
preacher talking about the devil. "NASA abandoned affordability in favor of
the shuttle, and now it's spending hundreds of millions to study frog legs.
I want to fly in space, and I'm tired of waiting for NASA. If we can show
the world we can do this safely at extremely low cost, there'll be a
renaissance in space." "

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.07/space.html

-kert