Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson has been one of the most vocal supporters for NASA in the mainstream media. He has even testified before the Senate on the importance of NASA in space exploration and scientific advancement in general. NDGT is an excellent writer and speaker. He is probably the closest thing in astrophysics today to Carl Sagan. I've read a few of his books, which are fantastic. He just released a new one about a month ago, Space Chronicles, which sits at the top of my 'to read' list.
Badass
This video is a compilation of many of Dr. Tyson's statements on the subject, and it makes a very compelling case. The video was put together by Scrunchthethird on Youtube.
It is truly amazing to think about, that in less than 10 years during the decade of the 60's, the US went all the way from forming NASA to landing a man on the moon... And just this year the US stopped manned space exploration.
It should be noted, that the recent bank bailout would have funded NASA's entire budget for the last 50 years.
We should see what is out there, but then if we can't fix the crap on our own planet first, not sure we deserve to be out there screwing everything else up.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea how little money is spent on space programs/science in general (compared to military) until I stumbled upon Neil.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying that we should fund Mars inhabitation project right now, but it would be nice to finally send a mission to Europa, Jupiter's icy moon.
The thing that kills me about the funding is how pervasive science fiction is in popular culture. Space travel themes seem to be everywhere in pop culture these days. People just seem to think that the "future" is an inevitability. But that kind of advancement needs funding. Star Trek premiered in the 60's when we were at the precipice of interplanetary exploration. Now we have all of these space exploration themes in movies, tv, video games, lit... but we've regressed on the actual space exploration. It's crazy to me.
DeleteIt's so stupid of us. We don't unite in one, common goal, development of all of the mankind, we are still as limited as we were in the midde-ages, we can't overcome the conflicts based on differences between cultures. In general of course. I'm glad that there are more people like Neil, and hope that sooner or later they will help the world wake up.
DeleteWe seem to have stalled, I was hoping for warp travel by now!
ReplyDeleteengage
DeleteMaybe I'll buy that book. Sounds very interesting!
ReplyDeleteThe whole world stopped dreaming.
ReplyDeleteKids everywhere are being force fed a lot of rubbish that they wont need in their lives and lose that innate "spark", creativity or wonder that made people think. Now they're just being forced to compete against each other on matters that they have yet to understand.
Humanity has lost it.
Fear factors lead the space race. The reason NASA died? We have nothing to fear. We have Will Smith - Aliens are doomed.
ReplyDelete"Welcome to Earf!" punches alien in the face.
DeleteI'm all for space exploration, and I do love this man. He made my mind explode so much.
ReplyDeletethe last 50 years and thensome
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering how I never heard this before now
Learned a lot there.. worth looking into a book now.
ReplyDeleteWow... The fact that we don't even have manned missions anymore really does say a lot about the future of space exploration. On one hand the fact that we even have UAV's might be a step in the right direction. Why put human lives at risk when we can send out a bunch of probes? On the other hand I can see a steep decline (even more so) in the general population's interest in space now that an actual connection on an emotional level with a human is out of the picture.
ReplyDeleteIt is baffling that space is almost everywhere in pop culture and yet we aren't even willing to fork up the funding to make the "future" happen.
I love NDGT too, I first heard about him through DR. Michio Kaku. Both of them are incredibly intelligent and are of the few that still have that "spark".
Great Post.
What a shame that the manned space exploration stopped... I do agree that space exploration boosts technology.
ReplyDeleteI really should start reading some of his books.
ReplyDeletethat is so inspirational he is a great speaker
ReplyDeleteso we need to bring back some fear to get space exploration going again?
ReplyDeleteMan, when you put it that way it really is crazy to think about...
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