Bill Nye Dumps on Old Astronauts

Nye takes Armstrong to the moon, Politico
“In April, Armstrong and Apollo commanders Jim Lovell and Gene Cernan called Obama’s effort to scrap plans to return manned rockets to the moon “devastating.”Nye told POLITICO the astronauts were ignoring longer-term goals of exploring other parts of space. “They’re solar systemic heroes, but they have not had their eye on the ball the last couple of decades,” Nye said in a stop by POLITICO’s newsroom. He said the “deep misconception” that Obama wants to cut back manned flights “started with astronauts of a certain age who had not been paying attention to what’s going on.”
Keith’s note: While I disagree with Armstrong and Lovell’s specific stance vis a vis the Obama space policy as mentioned in recent Congressional hearings, I am not sure where Bill Nye The Science Guy comes off suggesting that Armstrong and Lovell have “not had their eye on the ball the last couple of decades”. Just how would Nye know this? From listening to one Congressional hearing? You’d think that Nye would do a little more research before making such ignorant comments. Armstrong has been a member of the NASA Advisory Council for years and Lovell manages to keep his hand in things – more so, I imagine, than 99% of the populace does. Indeed, I’d venture that they have more of working background on such things than a jittery TV host of a children’s program (or a know-it-all blogger like me) would have.
As for the comments regarding “astronauts of a certain age”, such slams against senior citizens are simply uncalled for. I cannot fathom how the Planetary Society would endorse such comments by its Executive Director.
This has nothing to do with being out of touch or age, Bill. Rather, Armstrong and Lovell (and Cernan and others) have a different point of view – and they are not alone in holding those views. So stop being a jerk and making comments about their age and listen to these guys – like I imagine you listen to Rusty Schweickart and Buzz Aldrin who are also “astronauts of a certain age”. You might learn something from all of them. When they are gone you are going to wish that they were still around to offer advice.
Bill Nye Is A Little Confused, earlier post