I spent the greater part of last weekend touring a relic of a former economic powerhouse, the USS Hornet. The Hornet was the exact vessel that retrieved the two Apollo 11 & 12 capsules.
It was indeed highly coincidental that I spent hours admiring the NASA Apollo displays while the last manned space mission by our nation was underway with Atlantis overhead.
I am deeply and profoundly saddened by the turn of events that have led to our dismissal of manned space exploration...even if they are only earth-orbital missions these days. I am as deeply and profoundly pissed off at how conservative commentators suggest that it's all Obama's fault, when clearly the end of the shuttle run was committed many years earlier.
It has not one thing to do with Obama. It has everything to do with the direction this nation's constituents have taken over the last forty years, over a period managed by Democrats and Republicans alike, who have:
If I had the ability to control where my tax dollars flowed, I would gladly gladly! pay 40% more if I could be assured that NASA would have direct access to that differential. I find space exploration to be among the most worthwhile uses of my tax dollars, and I am at odds with a nation unwilling to pursue it any further.
This is simply symptomatic of a nation that has lost it's way, in my little opinion, and a harbinger of things to come. We will give up our efforts to advance ourselves for the sake of enabling so many of us to fucker away our potential as citizens. We will continue, over the next few decades (i.e., over the rest of my lifetime), to prosecute wars to support our gluttonous energy requirements, to suppport the payouts of unsustainable entitlements to increasing swaths of our constituents, to lose another 5-6% of our manufacturing base to Bulgaria, et al, to cheerily lose a $21/hour real job and replacing it with a $17/hour financial, insurance or real estate (FIRE) services job all because we are unwilling to pay other Americans the wages they demand for shit that they produce.
I had immense pleasure to gaze on the intricate, detailed wiring inside an Apollo capsule that was launched unmanned in 1966 to test the control systems, the re-entry, the deployment of parachutes, the splashdown. An electrical engineer, probably my age in 1964, designed the wiring for this capsule, for the lunar landing module, for the command vehicle, and he had a small piece in developing this future national treasure. He was probably easily able to provide for his family with his one salary. He didn't necessarily get rich but lived an extraordinarily comfortable life and one with meaning. The sheet metal worker who attached the radio systems atop the island on the deck of the USS Hornet -- she was a small contributor to the building of a device that had the unplanned benefit of supporting a manned mission into space. These were valuable jobs. They had meaning. Work is noble, and work is craft, yet these ideas have been slowing eroding away here in this nation, what with the only possibilities for local non-college-bound Elk Grovian teenagers being Kohls' forklift drivers or Del Taco managers or Auto Mall janitors or strip mall security guards.
I am exceedingly fortunate to have a real manufacturing job that I love...and this all came about as a result of the 1986 Challenger accident (while I was a junior in high school) that spurred me to eventually become an engineer. While I never pursued any dreams of working on the systems to get people into space, I nevertheless did indeed find a worthwhile endeavor. I feel a bit of shame that my nation will now be less capable of developing such programs as NASA to spur future constituents to aspire.
We are now aspiring to be either NASCAR pitcrewmen or grips on the set of Jersey Shore, hoping to catch a glimpse of Snooki....
It was indeed highly coincidental that I spent hours admiring the NASA Apollo displays while the last manned space mission by our nation was underway with Atlantis overhead.
I am deeply and profoundly saddened by the turn of events that have led to our dismissal of manned space exploration...even if they are only earth-orbital missions these days. I am as deeply and profoundly pissed off at how conservative commentators suggest that it's all Obama's fault, when clearly the end of the shuttle run was committed many years earlier.
It has not one thing to do with Obama. It has everything to do with the direction this nation's constituents have taken over the last forty years, over a period managed by Democrats and Republicans alike, who have:
- Happily cheered on the opening of thousands of WalMarts and Targets to save a few dollars on hairdryers and plastic storage bins while cheerily supporting the death of local, independent merchants/manufacturers and good paying jobs.
- Looked to the real housewives of Atlanta for daily entertainment.
- Developed not a manufacturing economy based on the scientific prowess of NASA and other related technologies, but on perpetual suburban sprawl, the accessorizing of 3,200 sq ft starter mansions and garage majals with jet skis and his-and-her SUVs, and the advancement of money-for-nothing ventures such as Indian casinos, Las Vegas, credit default swaps and collateral debt obligations.
- Spent the greater part of two generations getting tattoos of their favorite NASCAR drivers, "pictures" of barbed wire on their biceps, and outfitting their rigs with 24" rims and low profile tires.
If I had the ability to control where my tax dollars flowed, I would gladly gladly! pay 40% more if I could be assured that NASA would have direct access to that differential. I find space exploration to be among the most worthwhile uses of my tax dollars, and I am at odds with a nation unwilling to pursue it any further.
This is simply symptomatic of a nation that has lost it's way, in my little opinion, and a harbinger of things to come. We will give up our efforts to advance ourselves for the sake of enabling so many of us to fucker away our potential as citizens. We will continue, over the next few decades (i.e., over the rest of my lifetime), to prosecute wars to support our gluttonous energy requirements, to suppport the payouts of unsustainable entitlements to increasing swaths of our constituents, to lose another 5-6% of our manufacturing base to Bulgaria, et al, to cheerily lose a $21/hour real job and replacing it with a $17/hour financial, insurance or real estate (FIRE) services job all because we are unwilling to pay other Americans the wages they demand for shit that they produce.
I had immense pleasure to gaze on the intricate, detailed wiring inside an Apollo capsule that was launched unmanned in 1966 to test the control systems, the re-entry, the deployment of parachutes, the splashdown. An electrical engineer, probably my age in 1964, designed the wiring for this capsule, for the lunar landing module, for the command vehicle, and he had a small piece in developing this future national treasure. He was probably easily able to provide for his family with his one salary. He didn't necessarily get rich but lived an extraordinarily comfortable life and one with meaning. The sheet metal worker who attached the radio systems atop the island on the deck of the USS Hornet -- she was a small contributor to the building of a device that had the unplanned benefit of supporting a manned mission into space. These were valuable jobs. They had meaning. Work is noble, and work is craft, yet these ideas have been slowing eroding away here in this nation, what with the only possibilities for local non-college-bound Elk Grovian teenagers being Kohls' forklift drivers or Del Taco managers or Auto Mall janitors or strip mall security guards.
I am exceedingly fortunate to have a real manufacturing job that I love...and this all came about as a result of the 1986 Challenger accident (while I was a junior in high school) that spurred me to eventually become an engineer. While I never pursued any dreams of working on the systems to get people into space, I nevertheless did indeed find a worthwhile endeavor. I feel a bit of shame that my nation will now be less capable of developing such programs as NASA to spur future constituents to aspire.
We are now aspiring to be either NASCAR pitcrewmen or grips on the set of Jersey Shore, hoping to catch a glimpse of Snooki....
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