🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <29794@life.ai.mit.edu> 75300.3115@compuserve.com (Clinton for President) writes:
=
=                    STATEMENT BY SENATOR AL GORE
=                     Goddard Space Flight Center
=                       Monday, October 19, 1992
=
Gore butters up spaceflight enthusiasts, flem at eleven.
[deleting loads of political BS (Dem or Rep, it's all the same)]
=
=      It is therefore crucial that the government begin to focus its
= efforts on preserving our aerospace industries.  But the Bush
= Administration is continuing to indulge in the same wishful thinking
= that has helped destroy other sectors of the economy.  Believe me,
= I'm talking from first-hand experience.  As Chairman of the Senate
= subcommittee that writes NASA's authorization bill, I have battled
= every year with the Administration on priorities in aerospace.

What is his REAL record? Anyone? Back to our sound bite.

 
 
=      By far the biggest of these came in 1989, when the President
= declared that he intended to send humans back to the Moon and on to
= Mars by the year 2019 -- the so-called Space Exploration Initiative.
= For once, George Bush may have had a vision, but its absurdity became
= apparent as cost estimates for a mission to the Moon and Mars were
= put at anywhere from $100 to $400 billion.
 
=      Keep in mind that Bush unveiled this plan at a time when we were
= trying to refurbish the Space Shuttle program, fund development of
= the Space Station Freedom, and launch the Mission to Planet Earth,
= all from a space budget that was already constrained.

Maybe NASA's budget should be increased a bit more. At least cut the pork from
all of their projects.
 
=      Right to the point, Dan Quayle and the National Space Council
= have failed to act decisively on the issue of developing a new rocket
= program.  The blame must lie squarely at their feet.

He may have a point here.
 
=      As proposed by the Space Council, the U.S has been actively
= attempting to develop not one, not two, but three -- yes, three new,
= costly, and technically complex orbital launch systems:  the $12
= billion New Launch System, and the $15 billion National Aerospace
= Plane, and the Single Stage Rocket Technology program, which still
= has no price tag.

Allen, could you enlighten everybody to the Delta Clipper's price, please?
 
=      In their own right, each of these systems may have some merit,
= even given the fact that the Space Plane and the Single Stage
= Technology program may provide significant benefits only in the
= long-term future.  But, trying to fund all three in the current
= budget environment is ridiculous.

I don't know about the NSP, but DC-X is going to be test-flown in a few months.
Guess long-term to Gore is anything longer than 4 years.

=      The Administration's New Launch System is a program that called
= for the development of a family of three launch vehicles built around
= a new, more reliable engine.  However, Quayle's National Space
= Council let politics determine how the NLS program would be
= structured.  Rather than tailoring the program to suit realistic
= launch needs of either NASA, the military, or the commercial launch
= industry, the Council made a politically expedient decision.  They
= saw the NLS as their last opportunity to develop a system capable of
= deploying the President's Star Wars program, as well as his Moon/Mars
= initiative.
 
=      The end result was a $12 billion proposal that did not
= adequately serve the needs of NASA, the Air Force, or the companies
= competing for commercial launch contracts.  In particular, NASA has
= no mission requirement for the New Launch System.  Space agency
= officials testified to that effect earlier this year, saying their
= only plans to use the NLS were as a truck to carry supplies to the
= Space Station, well after the turn of the century.

Hmmm.. You may have provided me a reason to not vote for Bush. You still
haven't convinced me to vote for YOU, though.
 
=      Nevertheless, we must improve our ability to access space.  In
= the near-term, there are several small, affordable steps that will
= move us toward that objective.  First, we must continue to improve
= the safety and reliability of the Space Shuttle.  NASA's Assured
= Shuttle Availability program is a valuable initiative that will help
= maintain a viable manned transportation capability into the next
= century.  Equally important is the continuation of the Advanced Solid
= Rocket Motor program.

Funny, didn't he know that ASRM is supposed to be bad for the ozone layer?
Odd for somebody so concerned with the environment. Ah well.
Send him a copy of the FAQ.
 
=      Given the importance of our aerospace programs, well-conceived
= action is clearly needed.  What can and should be done?  First, we
= need to make the space program more cost-effective and flexible.
= Spending more wisely in line with our established priorities will
= enable us to preserve jobs and ensure that the United States remains
= a leader in space.

Maybe you should turn some things over to private enterprise instead of 
government programs. Might increase efficiency. 
 
=      The findings of the Advisory Committee on the Future of the U.S.
= Space Program, the so-called "Augustine Committee", offer a good road
= map.  I agree with the Committee's conclusions that within a balanced
= civil space program, space science must continue to be our highest
= priority.  In particular, the Mission to Planet Earth, which will
= provide critical data on global environmental change, must be
= developed as quickly as possible.

"Augustine Committee?" Could somebody email me w/info on this, please.
 
=      The Mission to Planet Earth is by all odds NASA's most important
= mission.  I have advocated that we proceed with this mission as
= quickly as possible, arguing in several instances that mission
= objectives should be accomplished more quickly than NASA had
= proposed.  In that regard, we must better utilize data already
= collected on the Earth's atmosphere, land masses, and oceans,
= hastening our understanding of changing environmental systems.

Gee, what a surprise. He picked this thing first. Will the wonders ever end?
Hope so.
 
=      Secondly, Bill Clinton and I agree that we must move forward to
= complete development of the Space Station Freedom.  This program will
= present the United States with unique opportunities for world
= leadership in science and technology.  It will enable research in a
= weightless environment and is expected to yield many new developments
= in materials, electronics, and medicine.  The Space Station also will
= serve as a test-bed for technologies that may one day be adapted for
= use on Earth, including water and air purification systems and
= robotics for conducting high-risk tasks.
 
=      We also must continue to learn about other planets in our solar
= system.  This knowledge will improve our understanding of our own
= world and stimulate advances in computers, sensors, image processing,
= and communications.  And, although we cannot yet commit major
= resources to human planetary exploration, this dream should be among
= the considerations that guide our science and engineering.  Because
= the entire world will share the benefits of human planetary
= exploration, the costs for any such projects should be borne by other
= nations as well as the United States.

My main bitch about waiting for manned exploration is that we've *been* waiting
for nearly 20 yrs to start. At least let us return to the Moon, dammit.
 
<SIGH> -- could someone send me the space platforms of Perot and Marrou, please?
This is going to be an ugly election for space.

-- 
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Patrick Chester            |"The earth is too fragile a basket in which to keep
wolfone@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu |  all your eggs." Robert A. Heinlein
Politically Incorrect      |"The meek shall inherit the earth. The rest of us
Future Lunar Colonist      |  are going to the stars." Anonymous
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