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Gonna quote here... [1]

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Date: 2022-11-17

Apollo's twin sister looking on.

Yeah, even though Himself is taking credit for having come up with the idea (he probably didn’t, but that’s never stopped him from taking credit for everything everyone else has done that most people like), I’m warming more and more to this idea. I really, really hope he won’t be able to take credit for a successful touchdown in 2024...

I was a kid when her twin brother managed it; I was in the Vehicle Assembly Building when they were literally (very, very gently) screwing together pieces of the Stage 1 of Apollo — 15? 16?, the biggest section that holds most of the fuel. Like two pieces of garden hose, they were...I giggled so much the tour guide got annoyed. Can’t recall if he’d told me then or I’d found out about it later and transposed it in my head, but I sobered right up with the wow! factor of “The grooves between each of those screw threads have to be thinner than a sheet of paper,” or some such. Because no one wants that much fuel getting out prematurely… ;)

Sadly, I was at the wrong time to qualify for astronaut training, and I had other life paths by the time they were allowing mere mortals up there on the Shuttle, but I’ve always been a fan. So has David Gerrold, apparently, who wrote this on Facebook a few hours ago:

Here's the rant that seems to have vanished: Serious space research started in the 50s. Once we were able to put up weather observing satellites, we were able to predict hurricanes a week in advance, making it possible for millions of people to evacuate before the storms hit. The observation of weather patterns is a critical need for human survival. Space research is a critical part of prioritizing the needs of our planet. We need to study the behavior of our own sun. We need to monitor the trajectories of comets and asteroids. We need to understand things beyond the borders of our own atmosphere. As a direct result of the space program, we now have ways of determining the health of the planet — as well as the tools to address the needs of the planet and the species that live here, including us. As a result of the global communications network, we have the ability to inform ourselves about the processes of global climate disruption and educate ourselves on ways to cope. The money invested in space research has created hundreds of thousands of new industries (and millions of new jobs) including computers, cellphones, HDTV, GPS, and more medical advances than I have the space or time to list here. Had an MRI or a full-body scan or cataract surgery or Lasik? Thank space scientists. Many of our most important medical advances would not have happened without the tools and technology and research that came out of the space program. The money spent on space research is not blasted willy-nilly into space. It's spent down here on Earth, creating jobs and services and the kind of research that lets us apply many of those same tools to solving other problems. Computer modeling, for instance. Wind farms. Alternate fuels. Solar panels. Biological research of all kinds. Information technology. Data processing on a massive scale. New materials for special purposes. The fact that you say you don't care is your failure. It's a failure of vision. It's a failure of spirit. And it's a failure to understand just how much everything is connected to everything else. None of us will ever accomplish anything by apathy. Each of us takes on our part of the much larger problem. If enough of us do, we find ways to change the consequences of our circumstances. I invite you to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

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What really matters in life is creating a better world for those who come after us. Yes, that includes art and music and literature and education, yes — but it also includes scientific research so that we have the information and tools to create a more sustainable future for everyone. The goal is a world that works for all of us, with no one and nothing left out. We cannot do that without spending serious money on scientific research everywhere.

There are many folks here who wouldn’t have any issues with that last paragraph, or the last two. Sadly, there are quite a few who would take one look at the rest of it, at the space program, or space tourism (and yeah, we couldn’t just leave the billionaires UP there [and yeah, I think Elon Musk should keep his butt firmly on this planet, and not personally colonize anywhere else]; no semi-permanent infrastructure yet except for the ISS, and I think they were full up at the time, “no room at the inn”), or anyone spending money on anything else other than obvious social programs, and want to immediately and forever wash their hands of it. I’ve seen it on this site in comments, trust me.

But I’ve always maintained, back when there was less than half of the world population there is now, that one of the better ways to relieve this poor beleaguered planet was to get people OFF of it, permanently. Not through wars, or famine, or what’s that other one, oh yeah — pestilence (remember that one? always popular) — but through permanent habitations in orbit, on the Moon, on Mars, etc. It doesn’t matter if we “improve our distribution of resources paradigms” or whatever if we don’t have any resources left to distribute.

If the only things we have left in abundance is all the awful stuff (trash, air pollution, water pollution, micro-plastics in our rain, “The Mark of Gideon [Star Trek]” level people packing, etc.) and we’re running out entirely of the good stuff, including the diversity of the 99% of other living things’ species (before people start trotting out the “oh, we don’t need another spotted owl or snail darter,” argument, unless you’re God, you don’t know which ones are important, so better just presume they all might be), the social-only problems will only get worse.

And if it’s only economics people will only care about focusing on — not necessarily here, but quite a few places — there are any number of sites, and not just NASA ones, that will point out that for every $1 invested in the space program, space research, space etc., something like $7-$14 is realized as a result.

And space tourism? If we can get billionaires to appreciate they wouldn’t have any air or water or anything else on a regular basis right now without it down there on this Pale Blue Dot? If they would change their behavior for the better as a result of getting a better perspective? Hell, blast ‘em all up there, one or a handful or a busload at a time...and yeah, even bring ‘em back down again (maybe not Musk; maybe we could just leave him up there in orbit in a space hotel or something, and he won’t be able to ruin either Earth or any other world). ;)

Give ordinary VOTERS a chance to go up there? What might we change for the better then?

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/17/2136996/-Gonna-quote-here

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