tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884640.post3923057514961898702..comments2024-03-22T03:13:15.710-07:00Comments on Engineering Ethics Blog: Half a Century After Glenn’s Flight, NASA Tries to Make Up Its MindKaydeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15055360323969104129noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884640.post-32440605710612101972012-02-28T03:40:10.344-08:002012-02-28T03:40:10.344-08:00Dear Mr. Shupp,
Thanks for your comments. It tu...Dear Mr. Shupp,<br /> Thanks for your comments. It turns out that we are a small, new engineering school and do not have an aerospace engineering department (you may have confused Texas State University-San Marcos with the University of Texas at Austin 35 miles up the road). I will say this: in three hours I spent last weekend at an information booth for prospective students, I received numerous queries as to whether we had an aerospace engineering department, and one family was positive that they'd seen a sign about it! <br /><br /> Your comments are factually correct, and I agree that "coasting" is about all we can expect of NASA given the political climate. But perhaps it didn't come out clearly in my blog that what I object to is not so much the actual accomplishments of NASA, but the large gap between the potential (and pretensions about the future) and the reality. And that might require yet another blog post to clarify.Kaydeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15055360323969104129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884640.post-26332401897953620632012-02-27T23:25:03.953-08:002012-02-27T23:25:03.953-08:00So NASA "has outlived its ability to achieve ...So NASA "has outlived its ability to achieve simple, clear goals?" Okay, it's been 55 years since the agency was formed. What exactly are its goals in manned space flight?<br /><br />Demonstrate US "leadership" in space; show that international cooperation is possible; do some science; advance some space-related technology. That's about it, and we can argue that NASA is doing all this with the Space Station.<br /><br />Maybe you'd like something other, like ending all manned flights, or building Martian colonies? That's not NASA's choice, any more than deciding what to do about Iran us really all up to US Army brass. We have Congress and the White House to make such decisions, and at this point, it's clear that neither Congress nor the White House wants to kill off manned space programs irrevocably, but they don't want to spend much money either. So we're coasting. We'll build spy satellites and experiment with death rays and other fun toys and now and then we'll invite an astronaut to the White House so the President can talk on TV about Our Leadership, but that's basically it for the next 20 or 30 years.<br /><br />How do your colleagues in the Aero E Department read things?mike shupphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08383379836883992742noreply@blogger.com