
Donald Trump signs directive to send astronauts back to Moon - tomduncalf
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42322236
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cdancette
> Correspondents say any realistic effort will probably need Congress to agree
> to a big funding boost.

This is the real issue here. Trump can say all he wants, if the Congress
doesn't allow more budget, nothing will happen.

~~~
sleepychu
"I want to make America great again but congress is blocking me, vote the dems
out of congress"

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beobab
I actually get the feeling that he's going to do something about pollution and
climate change, but on his terms. Probably by suggesting something outrageous
off the bat, then winding back to something better than we'd currently expect.

[clarifying: not a trump supporter - just a guy from the UK]

~~~
Amygaz
Well, only if someone in his entourage wants to do something about pollution
and climate change. And then he will propose $50 millions to do it, while
investing billions on other things that pollute and accelerate climate
change...

Otherwise, forget it, he hasn't done a single thing, good or bad, in almost a
year.

~~~
RickJWag
Look on the bright side! No race riots like we had in St. Louis and Baltimore.
Record low unemployment. Record high stock market. Record low illegal border
crossings.

There's a lot to be happy about, no matter what your politics may be. There's
_always_ something good to find.

~~~
losteric
> There's a lot to be happy about, no matter what your politics may be.
> There's always something good to find.

With the right optics, maybe. I see white supremacist riots, inexcusable
wealth concentration, income inequality, stagnating wages, and high labor
drop-out. Overall, it's feeling a lot like the 1920s. The stock market? I hope
you time it right, Black Tuesday is coming up.

Low border crossings reflect our underlying economic problem - illegals have
been declining for over a decade due to automation, job exports, and declining
middle-class jobs... rats abandoning a sinking ship.

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cgervasi
President Obama said he scrapped the plan to go back to the moon because he
saw it as just recapitulating 60s technology development. He said he wanted
"game-changing" new technologies instead. That made sense to me at the time,
but maybe you need to fund rebuilding a project from the 60s, and then the
game changing ideas will appear along the way.

I am unclear if President Trump's order calls for bringing back the program
Obama cancelled or if it's more of a general statement of direction.

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stupidcar
"With this directive, Mr Trump abandons plans set by his predecessor Barack
Obama, to send humans to an asteroid near earth."

Isn't this the problem? Every President gives Nasa a new set of priorities,
which they work on for a while until the next President comes along and
changes things again. Back in 2004, George W Bush was also announcing a return
to the Moon:

"Our third goal is to return to the moon by 2020, as the launching point for
missions beyond. Beginning no later than 2008, we will send a series of
robotic missions to the lunar surface to research and prepare for future human
exploration. Using the Crew Exploration Vehicle, we will undertake extended
human missions to the moon as early as 2015, with the goal of living and
working there for increasingly extended periods. "

Jan 14, 2004 -
[https://history.nasa.gov/Bush%20SEP.htm](https://history.nasa.gov/Bush%20SEP.htm)

~~~
AlphaGeekZulu
Am I the only one who sees a clear pattern here: each and every action of the
current US president undos something that predecessor Barack Obama has
accomplished.

There are the obvious things, like health insurance, immigration policy and
the like. Whenever I cannot at all understand a certain action of the PotUS,
like, for example, the scaling down (or closing) of two National Parks in Utah
(Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante), I'll do a little research and
find: the action is undoing some former act of Barack Obama.

Each day I get more and more convinced, that Mr Trumps only motivation is the
extinction of the traces of his predecessor. As cited: it is not about Moon or
Mars, it is about "abandoning plans set by his predecessor Barack Obama, to
send humans to an asteroid near earth". Therefore it is absolutely
unimportant, if the program gets funded or executed. The directive has
fulfilled its purpse by rescinding an Obama act.

I am into archaeology and history. Extinguishing the traces of the predecessor
is a very common pattern in history, you know, like chiseling away the former
pharao's name from the temple walls. Alarmingly archaic, primitive and
despotic.

Even the most absurd actions of the US president become completely reasonable,
when seen in this context.

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senectus1
Do it for commerce. Enrol the likes of Elon Musk to build a space hotel. to do
that you need space mining, smelting and construction industry. to do that you
need fifo space miners.

one thing will lead to another and next thing you know The US (or whoever does
it first) will be the biggest active population space community.

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aleksm97
Instead of focusing our budget on resolving climate issues and pollution on
our own planet, we somehow try to blow our money into space exploration. I get
that it's a good thing to do in the long run, but until we fix the issues that
are present around us, there won't be a long run.

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627467
ahhh climate change and pollution is the new "poverty and war"...

~~~
qbrass
Not that we've solved those problems and needed a replacement.

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bmcusick
Without any details on whether this means funding SLS for another $4
billion/year to accomplish nothing vs. fund some real innovation like Blue
Origin or SpaceX, it's kind of "Meh" as announcements go.

