[AR] Re: bittersweet anniversary
- From: Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Arocket List <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2018 14:48:32 -0500 (EST)
On Fri, 21 Dec 2018, Rand Simberg wrote:
Unfortunately, four years less two days later, the last one came home
(Apollo 17 splashdown 19 Dec 1972).
Because it didn't have much to do with space, and was being done in an
economically (and thus politically) unsustainable way.
And if NASA's proposal for a followon had been a low-key continuation of
the same, with efforts to reduce costs and move gradually toward
reusability... they just might have gotten it. Yes, Apollo was too far
too fast, due to ephemeral politics, but once it was there, despite its
drawbacks there *was* considerable political sentiment that it shouldn't
just be thrown away.
Instead NASA asked for a space shuttle *and* a space station *and* a Moon
base *and* Mars expeditions. This proposal was so hopelessly out of touch
with political reality that it wasn't just dead on arrival -- it was dead,
rotting, and covered with flies. No sane politician wanted to be seen
anywhere near it. NASA needed years to recover from that train wreck, and
all hope of continuity and preservation of investment died meanwhile.
Henry
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