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How do we bring back the national enthusiasm for space again? Enthusiasm that spans across politics. Maybe I'm out of touch, it seems to take a lot longer to g

How do we bring back the national enthusiasm for space again? Enthusiasm that spans across politics. Maybe I'm out of touch, it seems to take a lot longer to get things done and get something flying into space than it used to. I don't think we can be world leaders with projects like the SLS that never get off the ground anywhere near the expected date. Seems like we used to take more risks or have less bureaucracy or ???

sbierwagen 7y ago
Apollo was not as popular at the time as commonly remembered. >Polls both by USA Today and Gallup have shown support for the moon landing has increased the farther we've gotten away from it. 77 percent of people in 1989 thought the moon landing was worth it; only 47 percent felt that way in 1979. >Consistently throughout the 1960s a majority of Americans did not believe Apollo was worth the cost, with the one exception to this a poll taken at the time of the Apollo 11 lunar landing in July 1969. And consistently throughout the decade 45-60 percent of Americans believed that the government was spending too much on space, indicative of a lack of commitment to the spaceﬂight agenda. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/09/moondoggle-the-forgotten-opposition-to-the-apollo-program/262254/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/09/moond...
- annoyingnoob 7y ago
  I think support has a lot to do with reporting and the stories we tell. The economy has an impact too. In 1969 we had a great story to tell, it was all over the news and everyone was paying attention. In 1979, the economy was crap and there probably wasn't the money to spend. In 1989 the economy was doing well. 1989 also saw 5 shuttle missions, again lots of news. From your link - "Americans might not have supported the space program in real life, but they loved the one they saw on TV."
_bxg1 7y ago
> Seems like we used to take more risks or have less bureaucracy or ??? More like we had a Cold War to win via technological showmanship. Today's world has more important, more fundamental political problems to solve (not that we're doing a good job on those either, but regardless). At the same time: > it seems to take a lot longer to get things done and get something flying into space than it used to It's never been easier to "get something flying into space" thanks to, surprisingly, private industry. Walking on the moon may be a different story, but significant progress has been made getting both objects and people into space.
- ampdepolymerase 7y ago
  Get Russian/India/China to publicly declare intent to put a bunker on Mars.
- annoyingnoob 7y ago
  Looking at Wikipedia, maybe its just about money. "Apollo ran from 1961 to 1972, with the first crewed flight in 1968" - $25.4 billion (1973) "The Space Launch System (SLS) is a US super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle, which has been under development since its announcement in 2011. It is the primary launch vehicle of NASA's deep space exploration plans,[12][13] including the planned crewed lunar flights of the Artemis program and a possible follow-on human mission to Mars.[14][15][16] SLS replaces the Constellation program's Ares V launch vehicle of 2005, which never left the development phase." - For fiscal years 2011 through 2018, the SLS program had expended funding totaling $13.999 billion in nominal dollars. In 7 years Apollo had crewed flight. In 7 years SLS isn't even off the ground, and that is after the previous project never finished. So, how do we gain public support for funding these missions? Honestly, while 'war' may be an answer its not a good one.

sbierwagen 7y ago

Apollo was not as popular at the time as commonly remembered. >Polls both by USA Today and Gallup have shown support for the moon landing has increased the farther we've gotten away from it. 77 percent of people in 1989 thought the moon landing was worth it; only 47 percent felt that way in 1979. >Consistently throughout the 1960s a majority of Americans did not believe Apollo was worth the cost, with the one exception to this a poll taken at the time of the Apollo 11 lunar landing in July 1969. And consistently throughout the decade 45-60 percent of Americans believed that the government was spending too much on space, indicative of a lack of commitment to the spaceﬂight agenda. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/09/moondoggle-the-forgotten-opposition-to-the-apollo-program/262254/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/09/moond...

annoyingnoob 7y ago
I think support has a lot to do with reporting and the stories we tell. The economy has an impact too. In 1969 we had a great story to tell, it was all over the news and everyone was paying attention. In 1979, the economy was crap and there probably wasn't the money to spend. In 1989 the economy was doing well. 1989 also saw 5 shuttle missions, again lots of news. From your link - "Americans might not have supported the space program in real life, but they loved the one they saw on TV."

_bxg1 7y ago

> Seems like we used to take more risks or have less bureaucracy or ??? More like we had a Cold War to win via technological showmanship. Today's world has more important, more fundamental political problems to solve (not that we're doing a good job on those either, but regardless). At the same time: > it seems to take a lot longer to get things done and get something flying into space than it used to It's never been easier to "get something flying into space" thanks to, surprisingly, private industry. Walking on the moon may be a different story, but significant progress has been made getting both objects and people into space.

ampdepolymerase 7y ago
Get Russian/India/China to publicly declare intent to put a bunker on Mars.
annoyingnoob 7y ago
Looking at Wikipedia, maybe its just about money. "Apollo ran from 1961 to 1972, with the first crewed flight in 1968" - $25.4 billion (1973) "The Space Launch System (SLS) is a US super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle, which has been under development since its announcement in 2011. It is the primary launch vehicle of NASA's deep space exploration plans,[12][13] including the planned crewed lunar flights of the Artemis program and a possible follow-on human mission to Mars.[14][15][16] SLS replaces the Constellation program's Ares V launch vehicle of 2005, which never left the development phase." - For fiscal years 2011 through 2018, the SLS program had expended funding totaling $13.999 billion in nominal dollars. In 7 years Apollo had crewed flight. In 7 years SLS isn't even off the ground, and that is after the previous project never finished. So, how do we gain public support for funding these missions? Honestly, while 'war' may be an answer its not a good one.