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On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

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"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News


The Senate, led by Ted Cruz, endorses NASA’s failed SLS, Orion, and Lunar Gateway

Let’s all go bankrupt! A bill introduced today by Ted Cruz (R-Texas), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, rejects the Trump budget plan to phase out NASA’s failed SLS, Orion, and Lunar Gateway programs that have cost so far tens of billions for decades without accomplishing anything, and instead expands funding over the next decade to these and many other projects and agencies at NASA.

The bill would allocate $2.6 billion to Lunar Gateway, $4.1 billion to build two more SLS rockets, $20 million to build one more Orion capsule, $1.25 billion more for ISS to continue its operations as is, and $1 billion to upgrade or expand facilities at five NASA centers in Florida, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana.

This pork-laden bill would also fund a Mars Telecommunications Orbiter for $700 million and add $325 million to the $843 million contract NASA has with SpaceX to build the de-orbit vehicle for bringing ISS down in a controlled manner once it is retired.

What this bill tells us is that these Senators, led by “lying” Ted Cruz (to use the nickname Trump pinned on him during the 2016 presidential election campaign), are still unwilling to face the realities of the national debt, and want to spend money we don’t have in order to make believe they are grand explorers sending Americans into space. Instead, these idiots are simply funneling cash to their states in order to bribe voters to vote for them.

As Elon Musk so correctly noted, there is an election coming in 2026. Maybe it is time to throw them all out.

What this bill also tells us is that Trump is going to find it very difficult to get the budget under control. The Senate doesn’t care if the country goes bankrupt. They intend to spend our money like it grows on trees, to hell with the future. Shame on them.

Sadly, these senators know they have the backing of almost the entire press corp, which is why they are doing this. They figure they will get great press for “saving” NASA, even if it bankrupts the country. Worse, it appears the press is all for helping them do so.

R.I.P. America.

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17 comments

  • “there is a difference between the black and white of business and the shades of gray and horse trading in politics”

    I think its called it making the sausage.

    The system and the process are the only solution.

  • Richard M

    I was always skeptical that the deference Trump had been receiving from Hill Republicans would not crumble once it came to granular appropriations like the NASA budget….

    Note that Cruz and his colleagues don’t say much of anything about the science directorate cuts, beyond the insistence on the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter, which in turn is a telling indirect support for Mars Sample Return. But almost all of the science missions being whacked are managed at NASA centers in blue states represented mostly by blue congressmen. Mars Sample Return, however, bids to have a significant red state presence. In short, it’s about pork.

    The Ted Cruz principles at work seem to be just pork and jingo. Jingo and pork. A result that neither the Trump Administration nor the NASA science establishment will be happy with — which might be the only thing they agree on.

  • Skunk Bucket

    I love Ted on 99% of what he says and does, but he’s 100% wrong on this one.

  • BillB

    We can’t get Ted out of office for nearly six years as he was re-elected in 2024. I am from Texas and I did vote for him because the Democrat opponent would have been horrible for this country.

  • sippin_bourbon

    More proof that this a jabs program, and dar more important than science.

    Break up NASA.

  • sippin_bourbon

    Grrrr. Jobs, not jabs.

  • Saville

    Since NASA spending is discretionary then Cruz’ plan must be directed towards the appropriations bills to come.

  • Mike a

    Ted Cruz is a perfect example of the politicians who say all the right things during the re-election cycle and then quietly turn on everything they claimed to hold dear.
    It’s time people start waking up and voting accordingly.
    It’s about choosing the best INDIVIDUALS, not simply going with whomever has a D or R next to their name.
    See lyin’ *** Ted Cruz as exhibit A.

  • mkent

    ”What this bill also tells us is that Trump is going to find it very difficult to get the budget under control.”

    Trump doesn’t _want_ to get the budget under control. His Big Beautiful Bill adds $5 trillion to the national debt. That’s what the dust-up with Elon Musk was about. Before that, Trump attacked and threatened to primary the Republican congressmen who tried to add spending cuts to it.

    You attack a man as a liar, one who is bankrupting and even killing America while praising a man adding 500 times Ted’s bill to the national debt. It’s hard to take seriously.

  • Patrick Underwood

    One thing that gives me hope is the idea that SpaceX can afford its own Mars program at this point.

    As long as Elon doesn’t do a Howard Hughes, and the USG doesn’t return to the unconventional warfare it conducted against Musk during the previous administration. (Definitely a non-zero chance of either or both happening.)

    Another thing that gives me hope is the AI Apocalypse, already in progress. It’s going to obsolete a vast number of things we consider critical and worth fighting over. On the other hand, occasionally it also fills me with a cold dread. Change is both thrilling and frightening.

  • mkent: The “Big Beautiful Bill” I agree is a monstrosity, but that fact is largely shaped by the budget rules and the very narrow Republican majority right now. Trump’s 2026 budget proposal, which is where the real fight will be, clearly shows he is making an effort to bring that budget under control (as clearly shown by what the White House proposes for NASA).

    I recognize this distinction. You should also. Neither of us like ugliness of the present bill, but we also need to recognize that changing this situation is not going to be easy, and will occur in steps.

    Musk’s complaints are just one aspect of this fight, and it is a good one. Those who demand cuts get the most attention, and that is going to help get the cuts through in the end.

  • Jeff Wright

    “Cutbacks for thee–but not for me?”

    In the political lexicon, “pork” is defined as any money not spent on Elon, like a Moon Rocket that actually flew.

  • Mike Borgelt

    Still pushing the SLS boondoggle, Jeff? It cannot fly often enough, isn’t reusable and is vastly too expensive.
    What money is US.gov spending on Starship?

  • Richard M

    In the political lexicon, “pork” is defined as any money not spent on Elon, like a Moon Rocket that actually flew.

    1. We all know what the definition of “pork” is, and why SLS falls under its rubric.
    2. SLS has flown exactly…once. Successfully, yes, but only once. Two and a half years ago. Starship has flown to orbit 7 times. The orbit intersected the atmosphere, by design, so it never completed a full earth orbit. But it’s not accurate to say it has never flown.
    3. The truth is, and I think I may even speak for Bob here, most of us would be uneasy seeing very much money going to Starship — precisely because we do not want it too much under any government control. SpaceX is at the point where it can make it to Mars without NASA largesse.

  • Richard M: You speak for me as well. If you reread my policy paper, Capitalism in Space, one of my recommendations was that the government should NOT fund private space fully, and it should not do so generously. Musk has now created the situation we have always dreamed of. He is making enough money to not need ANY government money at all. He’ll take it of course, if he sell them his product, but only on his terms.

  • Max

    Senator Cruise is losing it.
    It’s part of the tax pan, if it passes, to give every baby born during the Trump administration in United States 1000 dollars. It will be invested in one of his donors portfolios until the children turn 18 at which time it will be heavily taxed. (Unless Government loses the lockbox key? Again)
    Giving away taxpayer money is the Democrats bread and butter, now the Republicans are doing it?
    https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sen-cruz-introduces-the-invest-america-act

  • Jeff Wright

    Marshall is not Washington..it is Marshall.
    If they were Army, or Marines–would you dog them so?

    They have no horns on their heads–like me, they fear the Greens..and legal animism.

    I wish you could meet them.

    Neither they nor I wanted things to be so ugly.

    For years…YEARS…they had the Dan Golden’s call them everything but children of God

    They actually got an Apollo 8 done on flat budgets…but instead of a pat on the back-we were trashed

    Do you not know how hurtful that is to folks who love this nation as much as you do?

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