President Visits Roswell, NM: "I Come in Peace"
Remarks by the President on Energy at Roswell, New Mexico
“It was a wonderful trip over here. We took the helicopter. We landed in Roswell. I announced to people when I landed that I had come in peace. (Laughter.) Let me tell you, there are more 9- and 10-year-old boys around the country — when I meet them, they ask me, “Have you been to Roswell, and is it true what they say?” (Laughter.) And I tell them, “If I told you I’d have to kill you.” So — and their eyes get all big. (Laughter.) So we’re going to keep our secrets here.”
Keith’s note: Oops. The White House (OSTP) likes this – on Twitter
He reminds me of the guy behind the curtain in the Emerald castle…
Give it a rest Cessna. Two years ago Obama proposed an increase in NASA funding plus a Mars-centric, commercial-launch-based exploration plan, and you were all about “he’s killing constellation and HSF, oh how could he!”.
Webb ate the rover budget, not Obama, and SLS is eating everything else.
He also asked congress for an additional 800 Mil to for Commercial. His ideas are sound, commercial for LEO, and the SLS for BEO. However congress seemingly likes the idea of NEOW (No Earth Orbit Whatsoever.)
This Obama photo puts a new twist on the Birthers issue! Maybe he needs a trip back home and NASA needs an appropriate budget increase to build the ship. (just a joke, that whole question is a joke)
I agree with MeekGee. Its a combination of the Webb cost over-runs and the transition from Shuttle to something else. Don’t forget MSL cost-overruns which were all the talk until Webb made it look miniscule.
Well, SLS might be manned rated but how will NASA rationalize to Congress and the public paying twice as much to launch astronauts to LEO (and beyond) with SLS rather than a commercial launch vehicle? The purpose of SLS will become as a heavy lifter. There will be infrequent use. Commercial heavy lifters will again prove far cheaper. The ROI from SLS is going to look pretty, no really bad. NASA should be investing heavily in trans-lunar/interplanetary propulsion and transporters.
I think he’s been pretty clear in advancing manned spapceflight and produce sustainability no matter the route. i.e getting out the good ole boy networks that have crippled the industry and taxpayers for years. Of course, it could be some conspiracy as you inply to stop all technological progress for Mars and Moon exploration and perhaps convert the agency to a welfare branch.
Ofcourse, as you imply I guess it is also possible that he could be like decitful in those sci-fi movies. Mere coincidence that Cessna’s have a high number of reported UFO sightings. How do we know you that you aren’t trying to maintain your cover of alien infiltration?
Where is your document of human certification?
“Where is your document of human certification?”
Release the birth certificate!
LOL!
“Klaatu barada nikto !”
Regarding Roswell, I had an office mate who grew up in Roswell (or very nearby in 60s/70s). He said nobody talked about space aliens or UFOs, he did mention watching “pryotechnics” from Holloman AFB during nighttimes. It was years later after he left the area it became the Space Alien mecca.
Actually, what he said was in the context of whether we should be going back to the moon as our next goal, or going (with people) to Mars. The whole idea of “been there done that” was that we should be reaching towards new and ambitious goals.
He laid out a plan, too – extending the duration of manned missions through a series of goals – L2, NEO, fly-around, etc. Launch would be delegated to commercial, since they can do it cheaper.
The plan was rejected by congress. The same congress that pushed to have all of the budget funneled into SLS and Webb.
Maybe, if the space advocate community would have supported that plan instead of succumbing to partisan politics as it did, then he’d see a chance to make a difference. As it stands right now, he wouldn’t touch this with a 10 foot pole.
Really Cessna? “Handled it badly” in the face of what? Pressure from the people opposing space flight? Oh – right – it was actually opposition from you.
So first you twist his plan into “killing HSF”, rile up all the pork networks in congress against it, and then you complain he “handled it badly”.
If the space community can’t put its own goals ahead of politics and pork, what business do we have complaining about other people not taking us seriously?
For comparison, when GWB came up with MM&B, even though I am not a GOP supporter, and even though I am not a moon-base supporter, I (and a lot of my friends) figured that it is better than the ISS/STS status quo, and supported it.
Can you explain what in the plan was so appalling that warranted the tons of derision and the whole constellation/SLS war?
So, you’re positing that he has a ‘hidden agenda’ to *prevent* Americans from going to the Moon? Really?
<Laughs> So he rammed it down our throats and he failed to show leadership?
“Personally, I think his plans sucked.”
If NASA had turned LEO over to commercial providers, and focused on BEO hardware necessary for an asteroid visit, then if Obama’s successor declares “Back to the moon”, the only extra hardware you need is a lander.
And if the next+one President says “On to Mars” (meaning Mars moons), that’s just an extended asteroid mission. Now you’ve done an asteroid, returned to the Moon and gone to Phobos, in just three Presidencies.
The chance of the next President after that calling for a manned Mars landing “before this decade is out”, is next to 100%.
(Bush’s VSE could have gone a similar route but got turned into the Constellation boondoggle.)
Meanwhile, with commercial crew providers getting regular NASA work,
some of them will be flying private “astronauts” (mostly tourists, but also some researchers), and possibly Bigelow actually puts up an actual
private space-station.
So ISS could be shut-down early, since any “science” can go to commercial stations, freeing up an extra $2-3b/yr in HSF to develop a Mars lander. (Or Moonbase, or asteroid mining, or whatever the hell direction the 48th President sets.)
I saw Obama’s plan as a huge win. Focus NASA on BEO, while using them as an anchor tenant for commercial LEO. It took the basic plan of VSE but in a way that made it harder for the primes to hijack it. Of course, he underestimated how openly corrupt the system was, and how much NASA rank’n’file would stab him in the back.
[If you want to find a reply button, I posted a one-liner near the top of the thread.]