Trump Signs Bill Directing NASA To Return To Manned Space Exploration

[Ryan Ruck]

[Ryan Ruck]

I do love it when Trump does something right instead of picking grade school level name calling social media fights with two talking heads no one knows or cares about!

President Trump Re-Establishes National Space Council

June 30, 2017

U.S. President Donald Trump signed a long-awaited executive order June 30 re-establishing the National Space Council.

At an event in the White House, flanked by several members of Congress and industry officials as well as Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Trump signed the executive order that re-establishes the council, last active at the end of the administration of President George H.W. Bush in 1993.

"Today we are taking a crucial step to secure America's future in space," Trump said, according to a press pool account of the signing ceremony. The White House did not broadcast the event live, and provided scant advance notice of the event, taking place shortly before the president left for the July 4 holiday weekend. "We are a nation of pioneers and the next great American frontier is space." [The First 100 Days: What Trump Has Done on Space So Far]

Trump had previously announced that Vice President Mike Pence would serve as the head of the space council once it is reestablished. Pence stated on several occasions, dating back to the signing of a NASA authorization bill in March, that the president would soon sign the order re-establishing the council, with Pence as chairman.

Pence also spoke at the signing ceremony prior to Trump's arrival, reiterating past statements that the council will be key to ensuring American leadership in space. "With the action he takes today, President Trump will bring a renewed sense of purpose to America's space policy," he said, according to the pool report of the event.

Today, @POTUS Donald Trump will take one more step to ensure that America leads again in the final frontier of space. pic.twitter.com/yJltTZajNu

— Vice President Pence (@VP) June 30, 2017

I’m honored and frankly enthusiastic about the role @POTUS has asked me to play in renewing our nation’s commitment to space. pic.twitter.com/deAukbZzh7

— Vice President Pence (@VP) June 30, 2017

The text of the executive order indicates that the new National Space Council will be structured like its previous incarnation in the George H.W. Bush administration, led by the vice president with representatives from various cabinet agencies and NASA. The council will be responsible for reviewing space policy and providing recommendations to the president, as well as fostering "close coordination, cooperation, and technology and information exchange" among agencies and with the private sector.

The order establishes a "Users' Advisory Group" that is similar to the "Space Policy Advisory Board" that the previous National Space Council had that provides outside advice to the council on space issues. One difference is an emphasis by the Users' Advisory Board that "the interests of industries and other non-Federal entities involved in space activities, including in particular commercial entities, are adequately represented in the Council."

Among those in attendance at the event was Sandy Magnus, the executive director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics who also served on the NASA transition team for the incoming Trump administration. "We appreciate the Trump Administration's efforts to strengthen our nation's space enterprise and view this as an opportunity to create an integrated strategic approach to U.S. space endeavors," she said in an AIAA statement.

Another person at the event was Tory Bruno, president and chief executive of United Launch Alliance. "I was honored to be there. This is a very exciting announcement," he tweeted shortly after the signing ceremony.

I was honored to be there. This is a very exciting announcement. https://t.co/mzfIiLTmsY

— Tory Bruno (@torybruno) June 30, 2017

The White House did not announce additional details about establishing the council, including naming an executive secretary who will handle the day-to-day operations of the council. A former executive secretary of the council, though, was optimistic about the new council.

"Vice President Pence is ready and able to lead an active and energetic Space Council team and agenda to ensure U.S. space pre-eminence for decades to come, and do so faster and more efficiently than ever before," said Mark Albrecht, who was executive secretary of the council from 1989 to 1992.

Albrecht predicted a full slate of activities for the council when it starts its work. "The agenda for a White House coordinating body on space policy will be substantial and urgent, from rationalizing space launch, to fully integrating new privatized and commercial space capabilities into all national space activities, to fielding new and dominant space deterrence and warfighting capabilities and doctrine," he said.

[American Patriot]

About fucking time.

Written long ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

https://web.archive.org/web/20070707...:80/space.html

Why Aren't We Going to Space?

by Rick Donaldson

Space - The final frontier... these are the lines that start one of the most successful Science Fiction television shows ever to be created, Star Trek. While Star Trek's technology and the various star ships in which the heros travel through space is not yet a reality, living in space has become a reality to some. Russian Cosmonauts have been spending months in space. The MIR space station program, and the U.S. forerunner to Mir, Skylab were the human race's first steps into space. For those of us growing up in the early 1960's this was a dream-come-true.


We watched in breathless wonder as Alan Sheppard became the first American man in space, albeit for about 15 minutes, he was a human being who left the planet, ventured beyond the atmosphere and then returned to tell about it. Later, John Glenn would become the first man to orbit the world multiple times, then splash down in the ocean in "Friendship 7", his space capsule. Through the 1960's we waited for space to come to us, through television. We reached out and touched the Moon itself in April, 1969. My entire family stayed home from work and school to watch first the touch down on the surface of the Moon, then many hours later, Neil Armstrong stepping out onto the surface of a world that had never before been touched by the human race.


After that, we visited the moon a few more times. The space program was one of the most exciting and important steps the human race has ever taken toward survival. The Shuttle Program, still going today, has had over fifty successful missions. One mission was a failure. The loss of seven astronauts in the Challenger explosion still haunts our space program even today. The picture of the seven hangs quietly on one of my walls above the computer and communications area of my home, my ham shack. When looking at that picture, I remember the 1960's and the original seven Astronauts who were to be America's heros in the years to come. Many of our astronauts, and some of the cosmonauts have given their lives in the pursuit of a dream... the dream of some day traveling through space and perhaps taking humanity with them.


Early in the Apollo missions, a test of Apollo 1 caused a fire. Three of America's heros died in the fire. Grissom, one of the original seven, Chaffe and White were all suited up and seated in the Apollo 1 Command Module. There were to be tests of the engines and other important electronic consoles. A fire broke out in the capsule, and fueled by the nearly pure oxygen content of the air inside, the fire spread rapidly. Nothing anyone could have done would have saved the three. I listened in horror as a youngster, as the news played the last words spoken by the three men. Their screams of pain are with me today. But, the mission and the world goes on. We did go on to touch the Moon.

Many years later, I was working for the White House Communications Agency. I was senior radio technician, travelling with the President, Vice President, First Lady and others associated with the White House. When I wasn't traveling, my job was to prepare trip-loads, large amounts of the communications equipment used to ensure that the VP or the President could communicate with the White House. Vice President Bush was planning a trip to meet with Christa McAuliffe, a teacher and payload specialist, after the historic trip billed by NASA as "The First Teacher in Space". As was our way at the time, I had finished building the trip load of several dozen pieces of equipment, and planned to go home for lunch. I lived on Bolling, Air Force base and was probably four minutes away. I expected to catch the launch on television. When I walked in, I realized I had missed the actual launch because my wife was standing in front of the television, almost in tears. She looked up and said, "Rick, the shuttle exploded". Everyone always joked about such things but no one expected it to happen. I watched the television for the next fifteen minutes, waiting to see parachutes, an escape pod, ANYTHING. We all saw nothing, and knew that another group of heros had died that day. I went back to my job and knew that the equipment load I had built would be going to Florida that afternoon. It did, and so did George Bush, where he laid a wreath in the ocean.


The Space program was set back many months and some of us believed that the government might never do anything again. A lot of us wrote letters, pleading with NASA and the US Government to continue, to "get the lead out" and get back to work. Eventually, they did and the Shuttle Program appears to be the most successful space program to date. I do not, however, believe it is enough. To date the US government has spent literally billions of dollars on the space program. Science has gained much knowledge. But, we are no closer to a space station today, than we were in the early 1980's. George Bush, while he was Vice President, had the 'duty' of overseeing the space program. This is a traditional job for the Vice President of the Unite States. At the time he was in office, he made a trip to the Johnson Space center and looked over the plans for the US Space Station. At the time is was slated to get funding on the order of 9 billion US dollars. Not long after he approved the project, Congress began cutting funds here and there. Eventually, the project was pretty much neutered. The station in those diagrams I personally saw many years ago will not fly in our life time. Oh, there is indeed an international space station planned, but in comparison to the "olden days" it is not a very large or far reaching project. The US Government has taken it on themselves to reduce costs by reducing space travel and exploration.


We constantly hear people in the news whining about this or that the government should or shouldn't do. Among those people, I have heard numerous times, folks on welfare complaining that they aren't getting enough money. I heard one lady, who stands out in my mind as the epitome of whiners, when she said, "If the government wouldn't spend so damn much money on going into space, and spend it here at home, I wouldn't be living like this." She motioned around behind her and she lived in an apartment in one of the larger cities (I think Chicago) and you saw she was living hand-to-mouth with her half-dozen or so children. I believe that the government sees this kind of thing, and thinks it is inappropriate to spend money on projects like space exploration, because of people like that. It only takes a few people to cause the government to do the WRONG thing.


While I feel for anyone put into bad circumstances, poor or out of work (I've been there), I do not feel as badly for someone when they won't help themselves. Our taxes go to 'support the government', to ensure that things like laws are justly and correctly upheld. We support the governments, local, state, regional and federal, because we have a need to have those governments in place to assist in natural disasters, keeping the peace, protecting us from other less-than-scrupulous governments. They are there to defend our country with our OWN manpower (the military). And... they are there to make our lives better by allowing us to do what we must for ourselves. The US Government in particular is there to handle things like our space program, to advance us enough so that all of us benefit. Space is a very, very big place and Earth is very, very insignificant when it comes to the size of space. Therefore, the money we spend to reach out and touch other worlds, to advance our science to a point where "Star Trek" is no longer science fiction is money well spent on the human race. Dollar for dollar, the money spent on moving the human race to the stars is more valuable than just handing it over to someone as welfare money.


The space program is the human race way of saying, "Get off your duff and let's see what's over the next ridge." Just like the pioneers of old, we know something is out there, something bigger than our own world even. We should, no MUST find out what lies beyond the next mountain, the next river, the next planet and the next solar system. There is a universe out there. Let's go see if we have neighbors!

[Volk]

About fucking time.

Written long ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

https://web.archive.org/web/20070707...:80/space.html

Why Aren't We Going to Space?

by Rick Donaldson

Space - The final frontier... these are the lines that start one of the most successful Science Fiction television shows ever to be created, Star Trek. While Star Trek's technology and the various star ships in which the heros travel through space is not yet a reality, living in space has become a reality to some. Russian Cosmonauts have been spending months in space. The MIR space station program, and the U.S. forerunner to Mir, Skylab were the human race's first steps into space. For those of us growing up in the early 1960's this was a dream-come-true.


We watched in breathless wonder as Alan Sheppard became the first American man in space, albeit for about 15 minutes, he was a human being who left the planet, ventured beyond the atmosphere and then returned to tell about it. Later, John Glenn would become the first man to orbit the world multiple times, then splash down in the ocean in "Friendship 7", his space capsule. Through the 1960's we waited for space to come to us, through television. We reached out and touched the Moon itself in April, 1969. My entire family stayed home from work and school to watch first the touch down on the surface of the Moon, then many hours later, Neil Armstrong stepping out onto the surface of a world that had never before been touched by the human race.


After that, we visited the moon a few more times. The space program was one of the most exciting and important steps the human race has ever taken toward survival. The Shuttle Program, still going today, has had over fifty successful missions. One mission was a failure. The loss of seven astronauts in the Challenger explosion still haunts our space program even today. The picture of the seven hangs quietly on one of my walls above the computer and communications area of my home, my ham shack. When looking at that picture, I remember the 1960's and the original seven Astronauts who were to be America's heros in the years to come. Many of our astronauts, and some of the cosmonauts have given their lives in the pursuit of a dream... the dream of some day traveling through space and perhaps taking humanity with them.


Early in the Apollo missions, a test of Apollo 1 caused a fire. Three of America's heros died in the fire. Grissom, one of the original seven, Chaffe and White were all suited up and seated in the Apollo 1 Command Module. There were to be tests of the engines and other important electronic consoles. A fire broke out in the capsule, and fueled by the nearly pure oxygen content of the air inside, the fire spread rapidly. Nothing anyone could have done would have saved the three. I listened in horror as a youngster, as the news played the last words spoken by the three men. Their screams of pain are with me today. But, the mission and the world goes on. We did go on to touch the Moon.

Many years later, I was working for the White House Communications Agency. I was senior radio technician, travelling with the President, Vice President, First Lady and others associated with the White House. When I wasn't traveling, my job was to prepare trip-loads, large amounts of the communications equipment used to ensure that the VP or the President could communicate with the White House. Vice President Bush was planning a trip to meet with Christa McAuliffe, a teacher and payload specialist, after the historic trip billed by NASA as "The First Teacher in Space". As was our way at the time, I had finished building the trip load of several dozen pieces of equipment, and planned to go home for lunch. I lived on Bolling, Air Force base and was probably four minutes away. I expected to catch the launch on television. When I walked in, I realized I had missed the actual launch because my wife was standing in front of the television, almost in tears. She looked up and said, "Rick, the shuttle exploded". Everyone always joked about such things but no one expected it to happen. I watched the television for the next fifteen minutes, waiting to see parachutes, an escape pod, ANYTHING. We all saw nothing, and knew that another group of heros had died that day. I went back to my job and knew that the equipment load I had built would be going to Florida that afternoon. It did, and so did George Bush, where he laid a wreath in the ocean.


The Space program was set back many months and some of us believed that the government might never do anything again. A lot of us wrote letters, pleading with NASA and the US Government to continue, to "get the lead out" and get back to work. Eventually, they did and the Shuttle Program appears to be the most successful space program to date. I do not, however, believe it is enough. To date the US government has spent literally billions of dollars on the space program. Science has gained much knowledge. But, we are no closer to a space station today, than we were in the early 1980's. George Bush, while he was Vice President, had the 'duty' of overseeing the space program. This is a traditional job for the Vice President of the Unite States. At the time he was in office, he made a trip to the Johnson Space center and looked over the plans for the US Space Station. At the time is was slated to get funding on the order of 9 billion US dollars. Not long after he approved the project, Congress began cutting funds here and there. Eventually, the project was pretty much neutered. The station in those diagrams I personally saw many years ago will not fly in our life time. Oh, there is indeed an international space station planned, but in comparison to the "olden days" it is not a very large or far reaching project. The US Government has taken it on themselves to reduce costs by reducing space travel and exploration.


We constantly hear people in the news whining about this or that the government should or shouldn't do. Among those people, I have heard numerous times, folks on welfare complaining that they aren't getting enough money. I heard one lady, who stands out in my mind as the epitome of whiners, when she said, "If the government wouldn't spend so damn much money on going into space, and spend it here at home, I wouldn't be living like this." She motioned around behind her and she lived in an apartment in one of the larger cities (I think Chicago) and you saw she was living hand-to-mouth with her half-dozen or so children. I believe that the government sees this kind of thing, and thinks it is inappropriate to spend money on projects like space exploration, because of people like that. It only takes a few people to cause the government to do the WRONG thing.


While I feel for anyone put into bad circumstances, poor or out of work (I've been there), I do not feel as badly for someone when they won't help themselves. Our taxes go to 'support the government', to ensure that things like laws are justly and correctly upheld. We support the governments, local, state, regional and federal, because we have a need to have those governments in place to assist in natural disasters, keeping the peace, protecting us from other less-than-scrupulous governments. They are there to defend our country with our OWN manpower (the military). And... they are there to make our lives better by allowing us to do what we must for ourselves. The US Government in particular is there to handle things like our space program, to advance us enough so that all of us benefit. Space is a very, very big place and Earth is very, very insignificant when it comes to the size of space. Therefore, the money we spend to reach out and touch other worlds, to advance our science to a point where "Star Trek" is no longer science fiction is money well spent on the human race. Dollar for dollar, the money spent on moving the human race to the stars is more valuable than just handing it over to someone as welfare money.


The space program is the human race way of saying, "Get off your duff and let's see what's over the next ridge." Just like the pioneers of old, we know something is out there, something bigger than our own world even. We should, no MUST find out what lies beyond the next mountain, the next river, the next planet and the next solar system. There is a universe out there. Let's go see if we have neighbors!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtBy_ppG4hY

This is why, this sense of entitlement combined with victimization exemplified by that 'song' has created a crop of fucking Losers that have been dragging this country down.