Obama on Manned Space

My initial reaction to early reports of Obama's plans for the space program were pretty negative but, unlike much of the blogosphere, I try to wait until he actually announces something before I pop off, and then I try to make it a response rather than a reaction. That tends to make me a little late to the party, but it sometimes saves me a bit of embarrassment.

Cancelling a return to the Moon turns out to be true, but put in the context of his larger plan I find that I rather like it. When you put in its place the idea of reaching for bigger and better things, that strikes me as a worthy goal. It got me rather excited. I'm reading some of the "Oh that is nonsense, we won't be able to do that," sort of thing, but many were saying that about our efforts to put men on the Moon. We did it, though.

I have to admit that privatizing ISS support to the tune of $6 billion strikes me as sort of a Republican horror, but I'm not sure what real choice he had. Think about it for a minute; if NASA could do it at all, could they do it in the time and price range he described?

And surely MSNBC pre-interviews their guests on Countdown. Who, last night, failed to realize that Buzz Aldrin has reached an age where his mind is not what it once was? That interview was embarrassing and painful, and Countdown should be ashamed. Age comes to us all and this fine man, this hero, should have been treated far more kindly than he was.