*Sigh*

“… that Trump stupidly calls ‘progressives.’”

Wearing vagina hats failed to make them look intelligent. Instead it emphasized one aspect of women, suggesting that the rest (including brains) was not important to the hat wearers. This was the impression that those particular feminists made just at the beginning of the Trump administration.

And all sensible women and men see through it for the pandering to emotion that it is.

Looking to the past, looking to placate feminists that Trump stupidly calls “progressives.”

Actually, NASA is taking direction from Congress, in building SLS and Orion. Constellation was directed by the Bush administration. NASA’s contribution is in attempting to find something to do with them. About four years ago, NASA called for suggestions for science probes to launch on SLS, but I have not heard of any serious suggestions. Even Europa clipper is/was at Congress’s direction, not the science community. Because the asteroid mission of the Obama administration found no enthusiasm from scientists, the Trump administration suggested a return to the Moon, putting the first woman there as the major goal. Gateway is an idea from NASA, but Congress has not been enthusiastic enough to fund it or to fund putting a woman on the Moon, so as far as Congress is concerned, SLS has only one thing to do, and that is Europa Clipper.

Such lack of imagination or direction is another good reason for private space to choose what to do in space, decide how to do it, and to pay for it themselves. They are much more likely to do things that are so useful that people, companies, universities, or governments would pay for them.

I’m beginning to think that New Glenn has a chance of launching before SLS does.

I keep thinking that too. And after getting that part of the orbital space tourism business on a solid footing, comes the next step – a really big rotating LEO space station/resort.

NASA wants to recapture its glory days and is looking to recreate the past. As the only direction in time what we can go is forward, naturally they stall and fail, so focused are they on past glory.

Musk and Besos may learn from past mistakes the way all thoughtful humans do, but their entire focus is on the future, the only direction in time that we can go.

Anybody up for Maitais and Pina Coladas out of a squeeze tube?