You're afraid that this success, like the killing of Osama bin Laden, will boost Obama's re-election effort. Pathetic.

virgil

Obama could have said no. Like bush did and bin laden would still be alive. But you see it any way you want. If it makes you feel better. We won't even talk about bush canceling the shuttle program. Because this story is about the mars mission.

All of you above are retarded brainwashed political nutcases. You foam drool and add no value to anything.

This was a cool landing and will alot learned from the mission. Great job NASA!!

Gee it was an 8 month trip and 2 years of planning - Obama has been in office for roughly 3.5 years. That would place the planning and trip in Obama's administration. It also must be understood that the manned space flight fleet (shuttles) were worn out and would cost way too much to maintain - the airframes were at risk. And we are already in debt up to our asses due to two unfunded wars and tax cuts under BushyDick. So Reb while it might be said that some of the development happened on Bush's watch the whole thing (space program) started with JFK so what is your bloody point?? That you hate Obama - you did make that point very clear.

This from Wikipedia concerning the Mars Rover.

NASA called for proposals for the rover's scientific instruments in April 2004,^[21] and eight proposals were selected on December 14 of that year.^[21] Testing and design of components also began in late 2004, including Aerojet's designing of a monopropellant engine with the ability to throttle from 15–100 percent thrust with a fixed propellant inlet pressure

Yeah, how come some want to privatize everything - except space exploration? If we don't privatize something it's because the President is a communist, but if we take steps to privatize space exploration the President is what - anti-American??!! The privatization of low earth orbit spaceflight is a necessary move that will enable NASA to go to Mars, especially in this era of shrinking federal budgets. Who shrunk the budgets? Maybe we didn't need to waste trillions in Iraq, hmmm?

Sorry people, no matter how we got here we have fiscal reality to think about. America's presence in space is still #1, so cram it!

If you want to give the Mars Rover accolades to Bush, fine, but then you also have to give him the complete and disastrous wastes of money that are the F22 and F35 programs...I'd add Constellation, but it's so miniscule in cost by comparison

^_^

/enjoy the veal

//don't forget to tip your waiter

The politicians have nothing to do with this. The rover wasn't a politicians idea. Politicians didn't work on the rover. They didn't do any work. About the only thing you can say a politician did to help this rover was the allocation of funds needed to succeed. Politics end there.

This is a tremendous achievement on so many levels. Folks that can't see past their own wallets will never be able to see the amazing scientific understanding we glean from these kind of missions. This was a worthwhile mission and it has been a success (so far). NASA is not without it's faults but most people who call them a money pit don't know what they are talking about and anyone who gives politicians too much credit is just cuckoo.

What a shame the Obama administration has put a halt to NASA programs like this.

What a shame you are just spouting statements as if they were fact, when they aren't. The current administration has not put a halt on any robotic missions like this, whatsoever. And, if you think that GWB never slashed money from the NASA budget, then you really do have your head in the clouds.

lol, the F22 is I believe Bush I and the F35 I believe belongs to Clinton (though not what it became). The promise of the F35 is that it was supposed to have learned the lessons from the F22 in terms of stealth, but nothing of the sort happened (which is even sillier since they are both the same manufacturer).

What is even sadder is that the F35's stealth is only expected to be effective for about 10 years of the 50 year expected service life for the plane. Now THAT's a wise use of money. NOT!!!

The issue of privatizing space isn't a matter of if, it is a matter of when. The concept is simple. You have the government incubate the industry (whether that is pure government or public-private partnerships like the airline industry is a matter up for debate), and gradually as the industry becomes able to support itself, you wean it off of the government backing.

Politics do play a role in our national space program. (Think Kennedy and the Apollo program). One of the few bright spots in the Bush administration was their vision for returning men to the moon then on to mars. The Obama administration scrapped the moon portion and wants to head for asteroids then on to mars.

As for the shuttle program, it was scheduled to wind down long before Obama was in office.

Regardless of who is commander in chief, it takes a willing congress to appropriate the funds needed for whichever direction NASA is directed to go.

^_^

RTypo

The problem with Constellation was 'money talks and bull@!$%# walks'. It was never funded properly, and probably would have ended up costing peoples lives due to it.

Quite possibly Jonathan, but I think it would have been cool to have astronauts back on the moon again and a source of great national pride.

virgil-1703634......you said:

Quote....Like Obama had anything to do with killing bin Laden...unless of course he was there.....EndQuote

Did Abraham Lincoln personally fight at Gettysburg? Did Franklin Roosevelt or Winston Churchill storm the beaches of Normandy? Did Harry Truman pilot the Enola Gay?

Would you have us believe none of these folks deserve credit for their leadership? Or, do you reserve your disrespect only for President Obama?

President Obama is a moral, wise, and brilliant leader. You don't deserve any of these. Perhaps, this is why you wax so nostalgic for Bush and Cheney.

boomer -- It was an eight month trip after EIGHT years of planning and construction. Therefore, it was begun under Bush, but these projects are begun because of launch opportunities, not politics. Unless, as now, the budget for these high cost, spectacular projects is held hostage to political differences. Remember, every cent these projects cost is paid out right here on Earth.

virgil-1703634,

Rather off topic. But since you decided to got here, whatever Obama's involvement was in killing of bin Laden, it was a great deal more than what Bush did.

As for Bush, Obama and NASA relationship. Bush gave NASA a goal in public, then cut their budget in private. Obama maintained the low budget and presented a new goal.

But wait! I though all you conservatives wanted to cut budgets wholesale on EVERYTHING. Obama maintains the low NASA budget that Bush cut and you are now complaining Obama cut it? Geeze, if Obama breaths you will find room to complain over that.

This program was done in spite of politicians from either party that have underfunded, over administrated, constantly reconfigured, and just plain mismanaged the space program. So enough with the politics already. Our space program has been anemic since the Apollo missions put a man on the moon.

This story is about the great men and women of NASA and the dozen private companies that helped to make this mission's success possible. Now to hope that the rover continues to operate as planned.

Mark Johnson 2007

I really couldn't understand why the libs collapsed my comment at 2.0 just because it was true. It was started by Bush and there will be none of this new scientific exploration under Obama.

As for your question as to why would conservatives be against cutting NASA like Obama did, I believe it has to do with his cutting large amounts of technical jobs throught Florida and many other southern states. He says he wants to create jobs but then he cuts programs that do just that in favor of continuing and increasing the government give away programs.

Hs says he wants to create jobs for Americans but he allows 1.5 million illegals to apply for work permits and take those jobs away. Can't have it both ways.

As for how they got onto Bin Laden from my post - well that is the laser focused liberal mind for you.

"It will be the last good thing we see from them for a long time"

You could not be more wrong. There are already multiple probes that have already been launched and are on their way to places throughout the solar system. As I type this a probe is on it's way to pluto, another is going to the asteroid Vesta, one is going back to Jupiter and another is collecting the dust from a comet trail. Stop sensationalizing everything.

believe me having worked at NASA in Mission control at Johnson space Center and having seen more than my share of politicians coming through in asking gradeschool questions thank God the only thing they have to do is provide the money for smart people to make things happen. Whenever politics gets involved disasters like the Challenger and Columbia happen. I speak from direct first-hand knowledge regarding Challenger and the Republican God Ronald Reagan.

I guess we must expect idiotic response and posts from people who couldn't find their ass's with both hands at high noon on death valley.

It's all about this planet, eh rebelwcause?

How terra-centric of you.

You probably have no problem deciding what goes on in other consenting adults bedrooms and personal lives though, eh?

Get over yourself.

I could care less what others do in their homes or in their private lives.

Fact: there is no useful information to be had from Mars exploration.

rebel apparently there's no useful information from your two posts either.

The world does not revolve around what you think is important, those with vision understand how important knowledge is.

JP Morgan lost 3 times as much in a day than this entire mission to Mars cost. People who are so ignorant of the importance of human exploration should just sit on it.

A huge waste of cash? The cost was about $7 per citizen. Granted, we could have mailed out checks to everyone and it would have paid for a 6 pack or maybe 2 gallons of gas or a pack of cigarettes...much more worthwhile things than SENDING A SPACECRAFT TO MARS, huh?

rebelwcause,

Whether you know it or not (I will guess "not"), your life benefits greatly because of all the pioneering research that missions like this generate. First of all, all the high tech, high paying jobs that this one rover has already generated. Over 8,000 of them. And this is only a small side benefit.

The clothing, electronics, plastics and a large fraction of the medical technology you benefit from comes directly from programs exactly as this one you have lambasted. A great deal of the safety systems you currently enjoy were pioneered by NASA, specifically fire retardants.

I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to educate you on the knowledge a 5th grader understands.

This is such an ignorant and selfish mindset, not to mention saying "there is no useful information to be had from Mars exploration" is just plain wrong. If everyone thought like you we would still be living in caves fearing thunder and thinking the Earth is flat and fire is magic. Most modern technology and medicine that makes our lives better was developed under projects that you would deem "worthless".

Wonder what we would have if all the time, engineering & money was spent here of Earth resolving global issues? Could we have completed a way to move water from those with too much rain to areas of drought? Could we have found a way to power our homes without using fossil fuels? Maybe we could have fed the millions that starve even today?

Space exploration yields some great exam questions for schoolwork, but on a whole, it serves no real purpose.

Steve,

Pipes don't need this kind of research, and that is all you need to move water around.

Now if you want to look at the dangers of just moving water around, please take a look at the history of the Aral Sea. Very enlightening.

And space exploration yields an understanding of our universe, and our place in it. It yields far more than just exam questions. It is fine if you don't have an interest in such exploration, but many others do. For the few pennies a day (if that) which Curiosity costs, there are far more than enough people that do value the contribution to our society that these missions give us whose tax dollars go into it, and there are more than likely things that you appreciate more than they do where your tax dollars go into.

Jonathan -- Unless it's all downhill to everywhere else you will need pumps and power for the pumps and better ways to make the pipes and the pumps. See, it's more complicated than you might have thought.

it's not like we haven't ever designed a @!$%#ing pump before, or generated power. Or hell, we could actually design it like the romans did.

And no, I was being a smart ass, nothing more.

rebelwcause

Dude, just lay back down and have another beer, probably thinking about Americas space effort has burned up to many of your already limited supply of braincells!! You need to rest.

For such an adventurer, you sure don't think outside-the-box much..... pumping water would be so archaic..... why not control the weather patterns? why not prevent the drought by creating better drought-resistant foliage? why not find new ways to shield vast areas of the planet against harsh weather? prevent tidal waves? harness the power of the seas?

steve

1) Why not control weather patterns?

Hmmm we have been studying climate for how many decades now, and we still don't understand it to the extent that we are comfortable with it, and not only that, we still have no clue about how to model any supposed changes that we might make to determine impact. Not an option until that understanding is developed. And yes billions of dollars is already being spent on that. Why do you think that there is so much press about climate change.

2) Why not prevent the drought by creating better drought-resistant foliage.

Ever hear of GMO foods, many of those food crops are drought resistant.

3) Why not find new ways to shield vast areas of the planet against harsh weather.

Hmmm ever hear of a building?

4) Prevent tidal waves

See item number 1

5) harness the power of the seas

3 billion dollars won't even put a dent into the cost of that.

Part of what you are talking about is how do funds get allocated, not funding itself. To take all funding away from one form of exploration to another form of exploration is a political matter. It is the exact same thing as saying all money should go into space exploration, which is just as short sighted and idiotic.

People may think that 3 billion is a lot of money, but really it isn't, that is 3Billion over 10 years, 300 million a year for something like this is a drop in the bucket.

I AM impressed regardless of the race of the people in the control room. I'd like to see more diversity, too, but don't be silly. Romney should shows his taxes, but that has nothing to do with this unless you consider that he didn't contribute to this great achievement if he sheltered his money and didn't pay taxes because he had Swiss and/or offshore bank accounts.

Larry-nc said, "All I saw on the news are a bunch of overweight white people jumping around in the control room."

I thought white guys couldn't jump...

You do realize that Charles Bolden Jr. (head of NASA) is African American.

We get the money back we spend on NASA and then some by quite a bit. Do you use a laptop, a smart phone, a tablet? The reason these devices are small is because of NASA having to fit computers into small space craft. If anything we should spend more on NASA.

"This is just another reason why white people's unemployment rate is less than other races in America."

No Larry its because people think like you. If you had any drive you could be in that control room. But that might require work eh?

Hah! NASA's recruiting policies are not supposed to be inclusive. They are supposed to hire the best and brightest, not any old idiot such as yourself. And while those people are "sitting on their As*ses, they are accomplishing incredible feats of science and engineering, while you just wallow in your own misery.

Actually, in that room, I saw blacks, whites, asians, hispanics, indians, a wide variety of ethnicities. To be sure, the majority were white, but that doesn't mean that others weren't represented. They were.

In addition, the data from the mission will end up going to scientists around the world. This was just the engineering development and operations team.

Jonathan-1917156,

I'm with you on this. I saw a multicultural team in there. Shoot, the gentleman calling out the Curiosity's ticks during the EDL is Asian. Were you people seeing the same NASA I was watching?