http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3950099/

Does the new space initiative set by Bush detract from the war on terror?
Is it appropriate to be doing this with what's going on in the world right now?

Yes it's very appropriate. We can't stay huddled in a ball forever. It is long past time to continue on with what we do. It is the best way to show the world that we are not easy to bring down. I also beleive that is what we as Americans do best.
Push the envelope. We should always try to be better the next day than we were the day before. We have a spirit for adventure. A need for it really. Look at some of the things done for fun these days. Some of the extreme sports people take up.
Jumping of of tall objects and hoping the chute opens.
It will also be good for the youth of today. Give some of them something to dream about and aspire to. Not just who has the best portfolio or coolest car but goals worth acheiving. Something worth striving for. Maybe help bring back an appreciation for what mankind can build. To learn to enjoy attempting something that has never been done before. To build something great.

I love the space program. There are so many medical and engineering technology innovations that have come to pass as a result of the space program, not to mention the merits of exploring our neighborhood in space.

However, we have a couple million people out of work right now, people like me who are not fit for military service and don't have the education or experience to work in the space program. There won't be that many new jobs made available for the space program to alleviate the jobless situation. And we are trying to rebuild a country that we are responsible for destroying while conducting a "war on terror" (I hate that term; look up the word terror in the dictionary--it is so inappropriate) while trying to address the terrorist threats in other countries and the security of our own country.

Now George W. Bush is speaking up about Mars and the evidence that there might be water there. How about taking care of the water we have HERE ON OUR PLANET by providing stricter pollution standards to lower the mercury levels???????

WHO IS SUPPOSED TO PAY FOR A SPACE INITIATIVE AT THIS TIME? Don't look at me. Bush would be better off holding a few bake sales where billionaires hang out, like school children do when their school system does not have the money they need for equipment or books. What kind of a Republican "conservative" is this Bush? Does anyone on this board have $11 billion to contribute to the space program?

The space program, if it is going to cost megabucks to do (and it will), must be assigned a lower priority than our immediate needs as a country and for the environment whose air we must breathe, water we must drink, and land that must sustain our crops.

Space exploration, yes, but not now, when we don't even know how much debt will have to be passed on to our children from this war.

Edited to say: I just got a GREAT idea---LET'S JUST STOP THE WAR AND TURN OUR ENERGY AND EFFORTS AND MONEY TOWARD THE SPACE PROGRAM!! I'd be for that.

I'd like to note that Bush proposed a $1 billion increase. Nothing more than chump change, especially compared to the cost of the war.

Bush Calls for New Moon Landing as Early as 2015
We have plenty of time to prepare before this project even begins to approach the cost of war. The funding complaints seem to be largely overblown.

At any other time I would agree with this new venture in outer space,but this is a time unlike any other in our Country history.

We are running record deficits every year now, and the nation debt has become a large mountain that will never grow smaller under this current adminstration.

I see that the space venture is taking money from other areas. We have a larger percentage of people below poverty level since Bush became president. We have larger amount of people unemployed and more jobs lost than under any other administration.

So pray tell why should we spend it on something that doesn't help the people. Is this another grandstand play from the compassinate conservative. Will the majority of the people be fooled again, just like the last trick or lie he was involved in.

I am sorry but everytime this lying president has a new plan, I automatically think who is going to get the short end this time.

In conclusion I am for giving assistance to the people before going off to create a great new venture to give him more brownie points. Enough is Enough. Help the people first.

First, I think the "war on terror" is a sham. It's a coordinated international police action, not a war. The only "war on terror" that the military has been involved in has been Afghanistan and there's only 10,000 US soldiers there now, which is 1/7 what we have in Germany, so the war can't be all that rough, can it?

Second, I think we DO get quite a bit of really cool technology every time we've ventured into space. For that reason alone, it's a good thing.

However, for the average USA citizen, it's a "who cares" moment. We get a bit of nationalistic pride when some of our own citizens go up into space, but we've been there done that.

Our continuing funding of the International Space Station is costing us $1 billion per year... the same number Bush is looking to redirect in order to fund the initial phase of this "initiative". Coincidence? And one of our current goals is to end our continued funding of the ISS. More great international diplomacy!

Paladin Elspeth for President.
Leader of the forward thinking lets be Rational for a Change Party.

Yes, and its also interesting the whole ISS was proposed by Reagan in the first place ("I command our nation to construct a permanent manned space station within ten years." in 1984) but the whole project was derailed - first by the Challenger disaster which required a serious look at NASA's policies at the time and then by the collapse of the Soviet Union - so the ISS project sought to include Russia. Unfortunately- Russia's failing economy forced the US and other partners to start picking up the bill in order to get Russia's part of the ISS finished and up into space (not entirely done, but since the first two parts were a US and a RUssian part - it was necessary). all of this, plus continued cuts to the NASA budget during the 90s (due to lack of public interest) has put the ISS project behind by several years, and now Bush looks to put the whole fiasco behind us by stopping our involvement as soon as possible.
As soon as he announced this, my first thought was what about finishing the ISS? Right now, there is a habitation module finished in the spring of 2001 sitting in a storage facility in Florida waiting for the funds to send it to the space station. This hab module would not only have added facilities to make life more like home on the ISS - but it would add an extra port for a soyuz escape module to dock to the station - thus allowing the max occupancy of the station to double - to 6 astronauts! If Bush is really committed to funding research into the effects of space travel on man, why not send this hab module up now and get it done in half the time - give NASA the money he cut in summer 2001 - before the war on terror even began?

I don't think Bush's plan takes any significant amount of money away from the war on terror (as pointed out, he probably just plans on diverting funds from other programs like the ISS which he does not want to support), but he is hoping that by playing on the possiblity of new public interest in space travel (thanks to the successful Spirit) to distract the public from his failure to actually pursue the war on terror. you know, that pesky hunt for OBL dead or alive, that he had to take money and men away from in order to pursue what he wanted - the war in Iraq. I personally am a huge proponent of the space program - I also see how a new moonshot could spawn new jobs in more than just Texas (places like alabama, utah, california, virginia, florida etc etc) and in more areas than just engineering (PR, construction, medicine etc). But, before Bush starts this, he should look to fulfill his past promises and the promises of his predecessors - ie finish the ISS, complete a replacement for the shuttle (possibly one capable of going beyond Earth orbit), and especially - find Osama and put the man power and money back into the ACTUAL war on terror.

No. Just something new for Americans to look foward to. A new goal to reach.



Yes. During this time of great stress and chaos in the world, we need a distraction from the death and destruction and chaos and watch mankind push the limits of our current scientific capabilities

As laid out by Bush this program seems to be primarily a reorganization of NASA and a slight budget increase. Saying this detracts from the war on terror is like saying Medicare or Social Security detracts from the war on terror.

I don't think this detracts from the "war on terror", and even if it did I think that space exploration is far more important anyway. America is the great innovator and we are in danger of losing that title.

Plus, I would be willing to bet that in another 5 years the so called "war on terror" will be just as much of a joke as the so called "war on drugs" which is apparently still going on with no end in sight.

A similar amount of money invested as a one-off in the Third World could provide clean safe fresh water supplies for the entire world's population, or eradicate malarial mosquitos, doing a great deal to remove the underlying disaffection of the Third World and potentially contributing to a long-term decline in terrorism.

And NASA could go to Mars the year after. Of course, then it wouldn't be an election year, and the water thing would take a few years for American voters to notice any difference, so it ain't gonna to happen.

If Bush wins, he might just do something like this in future - despite the conditions he has applied, his record on third world aid and development is exemplary among modern US presidents and other world leaders, on of the few areas where I think he has made real progress.