demillo@uwmacc.UUCP (02/05/86)
> > Third, does anyone else blame Proxmire for this? > > > (ihnp4;allegra;research)!alice!jj Why do people want to lay the blame for things out of anyone's control on someone? The shuttle program is very well funded, and very impressively run. Things that people build tend to blow up occasionally. Humans are not perfect. Please do not compound this tragedy by trying to find a scapegoat. Also: a word of optimism amongst the pessimism --- I normally consider myself "overly critical," especially when it comes to the general public of the US. (Can you blame me when the same farmers who voted Reagan in for a second term are now getting screwed by the same administration?) However, the response to this disaster has been very uplifting... I look around and I see mostly optimistic people who have come to realize that the Challenger 7, and everyone that is connected with the space program, is out to do something special. If anything, I am convinced that we will see an increase in the activity of the space program, not just in the shuttle program, but in all areas. There will be a lull of perhaps a half year, but then increased enthusiasm. The space program will continue because humanity must continue: the destiny of both have been inseperably linked for centuries. I beleive that now more than ever. -- --- Rob DeMillo Madison Academic Computer Center ...seismo!uwvax!uwmacc!demillo "...I suppose you find the concept of a robot with an artificial leg amusing?" -- Marvin, the Paranoid Android
earlw@pesnta.UUCP (Earl Wallace) (02/05/86)
NASA and it's contractors have done a great job with the funds available to
them, I doubt if any other group on this planet could do better. Can you
imagine how difficult it must be to build a space-plane? The shuttle is here
and now the job ahead is to learn from it, make improvements and refinements,
and start work on the new generation of shuttles. This time however, congress
should ask NASA what project they feel is the most important and that project
should be fully funded, no cuts of any kind. The remaining NASA projects
could take a beating in the budget processing but at least the Nations #1
space program would not be limited in obtaining it's goal. The trouble will
be defining the #1 goal.
P.S. - Maybe we could delete just ONE layer of upper-level bureaucratic
management in Federal, State and local Governments and use the
money saved from that to build 200 shuttles :-) or maybe not...