Apr 10, 2010

NASA's Time Is Past

Joseph FarahBy Joseph Farah
WorldNetDaily.com

I know how to save $19 billion from the federal budget real fast, with no negative impact on the daily lives of Americans.

Kill NASA.

I know what you're thinking.

Many of us who grew up during the age of space exploration maintain a fondness in our hearts for the program.

It once represented the final frontier.

As schoolchildren, we excitedly counted down backward as brave test pilots prepared to hurtle into the unknown blackness of space to ensure America would have the high ground in a life-and-death struggle with Cold War enemies.

America was on a mission – first to venture into space, later the moon and beyond.

That was then. This is now.

NASA long ago betrayed its mission, as government programs usually do.

Today, the only frontier NASA is exploring is the phony, fraudulent one of manmade catastrophic climate change. That's its pitiful excuse for existence. It's nothing more than a black hole sucking up $19 billion a year from American taxpayers.

Stick a fork in it. It's done.

It's best to close it down and, someday, perhaps, start over with a legitimate program of high-frontier space exploration.

Of course, that's not going to happen.

In fact, useless, fraudulent, wasteful agencies like NASA are getting big budget increases thanks to Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

NASA announced proudly last week its earth science budget will increase $2.4 billion, or 62 percent, through 2015. It plans 10 new missions during that time – all about collecting phony, fraudulent data about ocean temperatures, ice coverage, ozone depletion and how much carbon dioxide is being released through human activities.

NASA already has 13 climate-research satellites in orbit, but, when it comes to "climate change" hysteria, it's never enough. Apparently, the old ones aren't providing data alarming enough. Among the boondoggles to be funded with the budget increases for NASA is the Deep Space Climate Observatory, a satellite project originally conceived by that eminent scientist, Al Gore.

Meanwhile, NASA is scrapping the Constellation program, which would have focused on developing the next generation of rockets and spacecraft to fly to the space station, the moon, Mars and beyond.

The vacuum left behind with the phase out of the Space Shuttle program and the scrapping of Constellation will leave the U.S. reliant on China for many of its future satellite launches.

Incredible, you say?

Yet, what should we expect of a government agency under the direction of this administration and this Congress.

NASA long ago betrayed its mission. It has been a politically correct agency for a long, long time – even sacrificing the lives of astronauts in its blind, ideological commitment to the green agenda.

It was NASA's environmental concerns that resulted in the tragic deaths of the Columbia crew. And that wasn't the first time a space shuttle crew was lost because of misguided regulations and fads.

In fact, NASA's own investigations strongly suggest something very similar occurred back in 1986 resulting in the destruction of the Challenger and its entire crew.

Long before the space agency officially blamed the Feb. 1, 2003, disintegration of the Columbia upon re-entry – on foam insulation breaking free from the external tank and slamming into the leading edge of the left wing – I reported NASA knew of a continuing problem with foam insulation dating back six years earlier. The new foam had been chosen for shuttle missions, I reported – the day after the Columbia tragedy – because it was "environmentally friendly."

More than eight years ago, NASA investigated extensive thermal tile damage on the space shuttle Columbia as a direct result of the shedding of external tank insulation on launch. The problems began when the space agency switched to materials and parts that were considered more "environmentally friendly," according to a NASA report obtained by WorldNetDaily.

That's why it's best to kill the agency altogether, redefine a specific and constitutional mission for a new space agency and get a fresh start years from now – when this gang of thieves and robbers is in political exile.


Related Links


Cosmos, Creator, and Human Destiny - The Berean Call (Dave Hunt)
Did environmentalism bring down Columbia? - WorldNetDaily (Joseph Farah)
Lost in Space - FOX News
Obama Plans ‘Major Space Policy Speech’ From Space Coast - Central Florida News 13
Taking America Back: A Radical Plan to Revive Freedom, Morality, and Justice - Joseph Farah (Book)