
NASA Announces Plans for Human Exploration of Deep Space - DanBC
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/dec/HQ_11-415_2011_Year_in_Review.html
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tjic
> In 2011, NASA began developing a heavy-lift rocket for the human exploration
> of deep space

...which is sort of stupid, given that there are multiple private firms eager
to deliver this service, and deliver it at a price point lower than NASA is
remotely capable of achieving.

This silliness is explained by the fact that NASA employees want to work on
this project, even if it's going to cost more and deliver less than other
teams working on it.

As with regulatory capture <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture>
and the principal agent problem
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_agent_problem>, the key insight here
is that NASA is not run for the benefit of the people who cut the checks (the
taxpayers) but for the people on the NASA payroll.

A wasteful rocket development program is not a COST ... it's a BENEFIT.

~~~
pieter
>This silliness is explained by the fact that NASA employees want to work on
this project, even if it's going to cost more and deliver less than other
teams working on it.

Not at all. It's explained by the fact that congress keeps putting more money
in the space launch system than NASA itself requests; moving money to the
project that NASA would like to use for its commercial programs.

It's not NASA being silly here – it's congress wanting to impress the world
with its own space system.

~~~
InclinedPlane
Congress isn't trying to impress anybody. They're just playing the classic
pork barrel game, by maintaining high paying jobs in key congressional
districts through government spending.

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vonskippy
NASA should stick with what they do best - robot explorers. Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, Neptune, soon Pluto, plus Mercury, and the famous Mars twins - all
excellent and great ROI projects. Lots of science, lots of knowledge. Their
Humans in space program is dismal at best, and a complete waste of money at
worse. Robots do it better, faster, and way way way cheaper with no
significant risk. Humans in space is nothing but a political boondoggle.

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geuis
The title is wildly incorrect. This article is a year in review of things that
NASA did in 2011. It's specifically not a new announcement of anything.

~~~
DanBC
Sorry. I can't edit it now.

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JulianMorrison
SpaceX will beat them to it.

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diiq
"Qualified individuals can apply to become an astronaut through the federal
government's USAJobs.gov website."

<http://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/302967000>

"Qualified" apparently means healthy, science or engineering bachelors', 20/20
vision.

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pensiveye
"...it was consistent with the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 to retain as
much of the current workforce and its critical skills as possible."

Does this sound anything like what you would envision as a core qualification
for a long term technical goal? Really?

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CamperBob
Yeah, and I'm announcing plans to explore Angelina Jolie's pants. Same
likelihood of accomplishment.

Until we take NASA's mission seriously and fund them accordingly, it's all
just empty talk, seemingly repeated every couple of weeks.

