Space shuttle damaged on the way to space station...

[Pikarya]

Only with time.

http://i26.tinypic.com/21cz2b5.gif

[Mizango]

The space program is being redone. The Constellation program will take the place of the shuttle program in 2015. I think the only reason why they are continuing is due to the fact that they need to send supplies to the ISS, but I heard that other countries would be getting involved with sending supplies during NASA's 5 year absence.

NASA - Constellation Main

2010 is supposed to be the last year for the shuttles and then the fleet will be retired.

Indeed, 2015 is going to be an awesome year! Although many of the arm chair Astrophysicits among the public would like to have to think the world is ending in 2 years.

Chicken little syndrome.

[Mizango]

I like bursting bubbles though. Nothing funnier than a life long secretary with a 10 grade education tell me about the comet or meteor (depends on which rube you talk to) Apophis is going to wipe us out.


LOOOOOOL


Funny how this is news to Cosmologist (not fully yet) like myself and to the Astrophysics community. Lunch ladies in Wyoming know more of impact craters and impending doom than NDT, Hawking, Brown and Burke.

Oh god, its so awesome.

[Eliseos]

What's sad is its the people that don't know jack shit about science that say these things, they'd rather hang on to fables and superstition than to you know, explore our home and answer questions that we have a desire to know.

People find solace in ignorance. People fear the obvious, familiarity breeds contempt and thusly contempt breeds arrogance.

LEAVE OUR SCIENCE ALONE!

Yep Parents are way too over-protective of their kids now, and the safety they get accustomed to goes into their adult life. To paraphrase Tyson: "If there is a giant meteor coming to destroy the earth, people's reactions are going to be to gather supplies for their fallout shelter. Mine and other engineer/scientists reaction is 'How can I stop it.'"

It's that line of thinking (in my opinion) as to why not very many people take an interest in the sciences in school.

[Effluo]

I like bursting bubbles though. Nothing funnier than a life long secretary with a 10 grade education tell me about the comet or meteor (depends on which rube you talk to) Apophis is going to wipe us out.


LOOOOOOL

NU UH! It's planet X, and you Physicits are all part of the cover up!

More seriously though, what they gonna do when they decide to de-orbit the ISS in 2016? I sure as shit hope we have begun construction on a new one or at least colonized the moon by that point.. chaknow? Can't wait to see that fireball in the sky coming down. (most likely it won't actually happen though)

[Qalbert]

AFP: US manned space flight in doubt 40 years after moon walk

[Seraph]

The world ended on Jan 1, 2000. You are living in a dream world, Neo.

http://www.a1gifts.co.uk/images/prod..._9v_imageL.jpg

[Stiker]

Damn this sucks. I hope this doesn't completely scrap the program before I'm able to go watch a launch. Had a group of friends from college that wanted to make a trip out to see one of the final launches. Bleh.

[TummieGaruda]

I like bursting bubbles though. Nothing funnier than a life long secretary with a 10 grade education tell me about the comet or meteor (depends on which rube you talk to) Apophis is going to wipe us out.


LOOOOOOL


Funny how this is news to Cosmologist (not fully yet) like myself and to the Astrophysics community. Lunch ladies in Wyoming know more of impact craters and impending doom than NDT, Hawking, Brown and Burke.

Oh god, its so awesome.

Didn't that kid say that Apophis had some like 1/500 chance of hitting us but then NASA said he was wrong? I remember all of the crazy BS people were spouting saying it was going to hit and the world was going to end. Just reminds me of that whole 2012 stuff lol. Honestly I don't believe estimates until we get a better look in 2013.

[Seraph]

Didn't that kid say that Apophis had some like 1/500 chance of hitting us but then NASA said he was wrong? I remember all of the crazy BS people were spouting saying it was going to hit and the world was going to end. Just reminds me of that whole 2012 stuff lol. Honestly I don't believe estimates until we get a better look in 2013.

If I can't win a Hauteclaire with my 1/100 chance two years running, I am certainly not worrying about anything with significantly worse odds.

> : (

[Mizango]

If I can't win a Hauteclaire with my 1/100 chance two years running, I am certainly not worrying about anything with significantly worse odds.

> : (

HAHA

[Eliseos]

YouTube - Neil DeGrasse Tyson - Death By Giant Meteor

[Mizango]

YouTube - Neil DeGrasse Tyson - Death By Giant Meteor

Thank you. NDT is jesus.

[Mizango]

On a related note I linked him to our Astrophysics thread, waiting for a reply lol.

[Eliseos]

Queue Wayne's World "We're Not Worthy" chant.

[Mizango]

Queue Wayne's World "We're Not Worthy" chant.

lol

[TummieGaruda]

Thank you. NDT is jesus.

Yeah he's awesome. There is a lecture he did floating around about Stupid Design...not sure if that is the link that Miz did, but I remember laughing my ass off because the points he make are so true.

[Mizango]

Yes it was at the Beyond Belief expo lol. Where he talked about human anatomy and how its too flawed to be made by the perfect being.

[Mizango]

Which is um, true.

[Absolutely Virtue]

NASA funding. Format is year/nominal dollars/% of total fed budget/constant 2007 dollars

2000 13.428 0.75% 14.926
2001 14.095 0.74% 15.427
2002 14.405 0.72% 15.831
2003 14.610 0.66% 16.021
2004 15.152 0.66% 15.559
2005 15.602 0.65% 16.016
2006 15.125 0.56% 16.085
2007 15.861 0.57% 15.861
2008 17.318 0.60% 17.138
2009 17.2 0.55% 17.2

(source NASA Budget - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

$17.2b sounds like a lot of money. It's not.

Goldman Sachs, arguably the engine behind the current financial crisis (and with a hand in almost every other financial crisis in the 20th century), got $13b in bailout money from AIG, $10b in TARP funds, and another $28b in discount debt from the FDIC. They're going to pay out $18b in bonuses to their employees this year alone. Let that sink in a little bit. The greedy cuntbags who run Goldman Sachs are going to receive more in bonus money than the entire budget for NASA.

In case you're wondering, Goldman paid a total of $14m in Federal income tax last year, for an effective tax rate of 1%.

Sources:

Goldman Sachs bailout/bonus figures

Goldman Sachs 2008 Federal tax rate