shuttle's blastin off soon....

[Sasquach991]

...

NASA funding is mini tiny wee wimpy nancy stuff. We could bump their funding by like 100x and it wouldn't put a dent in the dent of the dent in the size of real waste programs. And the practical purpose behind space stuff is that it drives technology quite well. Even if going to Mars is directly pointless, the process of doing what it takes to go there develops a plethora of never before understood engineering and research. This means that space stuff is extremely important since excellence in this area is arguably the primary driver for advanced societies

I've been working in the space industry for 25 years and when I saw this poll I expected almost 100% of "who gives a flying fuck" since most here seem to be <30 years old.

Wuf's reply was especially interesting and insightful.

Other NASA stuff:
velcro, disposable diapers.
The water processing system on the space station can convert urine to drinkable water (more drinkable than any tap water on earth). There's some psychological reasons to getting people to drink it so it's used as potable water for the most part.

[BennyLaRue]

I've been working in the space industry for 25 years and when I saw this poll I expected almost 100% of "who gives a flying fuck" since most here seem to be <30 years old.

Also, seriously, I'm sort of curious why you held this perception, especially if you work in the industry. Why would you believe young people wouldn't feel space exploration is important? It's a little bit stunning to me.

[Sasquach991]

Also, seriously, I'm sort of curious why you held this perception, especially if you work in the industry. Why would you believe young people wouldn't feel space exploration is important? It's a little bit stunning to me.

I believe most young people take space exploration for granted. Everyone under 30 has grown up seeing shuttle flights on a fairly regular basis and shuttle launch coverage is almost non existant unless it is following a major problem or on a significant milestone (20 years, 25 years, etc). Everyone expects the shuttle missions to be successful because that's what they are used to. People would even complain when shuttle flights were delayed to the point of letting schedules drive launches (i.e. Challenger). Other times when the shuttle was in the news would be about budget cuts and how much money NASA spends even though it's a drop in the bucket compared to other programs.

Below is the main reason:
When my son was younger I would yearly volunteer to visit his school and make a presentation with many props such as exploded bolts, models of experiments, space food, etc. The kids were very impressed and excited about it up until the age of about 12. At >12 they were obviously bored with it and only the "nerds" were interested and asked questions. The "cool kids" would then laugh at the nerds for asking questions. I would then explain to the cool kids that they should be nice to the smart kids as they would be working for them one day. I got questionable looks from teachers from this too. I guess I was on the verge of some BS like "making someone uncomfortable" or offending someone. I asked my son when he was about 14 if he thought anyone would be interested in me coming to present from then on and he said definitely not because it was boring and the only people interested were the nerds. Obviously my son is not one of the nerds or geeks or whatever they are called now.

Honestly I was not interested space exploration until I got a job in the space industry and that was when there was a lot of interest in space because of the 1986 Challenger "accident". I don't believe in accidents, especially car "accidents".

I wonder if I had made a presentation this year, would any of them have been interested. He graduates tomorrow.

I hope I'm wrong about all of this but I didn't see much protest when the Constellation Project was cut.

[BennyLaRue]

I don't disagree that the current space program has lost its mystery and ability to amaze as it's become more common, just as the first few trips to the New World by Europeans were probably followed much more closely than the same trips 25 years later and today's transatlantic flights are downright pedestrian.

But that is a vastly different dynamic than whether or not people are in favor of space exploration or even give a fuck about it. I'm sure the majority of young people can see how it's important even if it isn't an area of great interest. I'm sure your son thinks it's pretty important work even if he doesn't want to be reminded about what astronauts eat in space (and bear in mind that it is a reminder...we all grew up with this stuff as fairly common knowledge). The rail system is as fucking boring as all get out but I sure think it's important. Of course, the exploratory nature of it makes space travel that much more impactful than rail and the things we're learn will change our lives dramatically as a result but you can see what I'm driving at...the things that are important to our nations and societies need not fascinate us endlessly in order to resonate with us.

I hope I'm wrong about all of this but I didn't see much protest when the Constellation Project was cut.

Again, not sure the blame for this rests on the shoulders of people under 30. Who has the greatest voice in government, the protesting voices you would have heard? Certainly not the under-30 crowd.

Your post just struck me as age-ism. You shouldn't wonder why people aren't entranced by your work anymore as much as you should wonder what the best new ways to engage people about your work are.

[wufwugy]

Also, seriously, I'm sort of curious why you held this perception, especially if you work in the industry. Why would you believe young people wouldn't feel space exploration is important? It's a little bit stunning to me.

Most young people (most of any demo really) do not know what space exploration really is, and they listen to what they're told. They're told by dickhead neocon liars that it's wasteful, so many believe it

The fact is that one of the most significant pieces of US history is space exploration. It seems the only people who understand this are history or science buffs. Most people view space stuff like it's a press release about a specific grandiose goal. It's not. It's really about the values and health of a society. A society that fully supports space stuff is a society that cares about achieving greatness, cares about education, and cares about things other than themselves. It's not a coincidence that space exploration support has an inverse correlation with things like celebrity worship and credit consumerism. It's also not coincidence that support for space stuff has an inverse correlation with economic and social health

I'm sure you know a lot of this since you're wicked smart, but back when JFK said we're going to the Moon in a decade, we didn't know how to do it. We pumped money into the best and the brightest, we got the Right Stuff and defeated the obstacles that a mere few years previous were insurmountable. Is that not the most amazing thing that could be said about civilization? And yet there are a myriad of myopic mongrels who masticate over the imagined misallocation of our efforts