Texas Lawmakers Press NASA to Base Lunar Lander Program in Houston:
The Apollo missions that flew to the Moon during the 1960s were designed and controlled by what is now known as Johnson Space Center, the home of the famous "Mission Control." Moreover, the astronauts that flew to the Moon all lived in Houston. It would stand to reason, therefore, that as NASA gears up to return to the Moon, major elements of this program would likewise be controlled from the Texas metropolis that styles itself "Space City."
Times change, however. In recent months, the politically well-positioned Marshall Space Flight Center, in Huntsville, Alabama, has been quietly pressing leaders with NASA Headquarters for program management of mid- to large-size landers to the lunar surface, which would evolve into human landers. Sources indicated this effort was having some success.
However, Texas legislators have now begun to push back. On Tuesday, both of Texas' senators (John Cornyn and Ted Cruz), as well as three representatives with space-related committee chairs (John Culberson, Lamar Smith, and Brian Babin), wrote a letter to NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.
"We support NASA's focus on returning to the Moon and using it as part of a stepping stone approach to place American boots on the surface of Mars in the 2030s," the Texas Republicans wrote. "As NASA reviews solicitations for lunar landers, we write to express our strong support for the establishment of NASA's lunar lander program at the Johnson Space Center." The letter reminds Bridenstine of Houston's strong spaceflight heritage.
Somehow, "Huntsville, we have a problem" doesn't have the same ring to it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 30 2018, @06:56PM
The Ur-Quan have arrived to enslave the Earth, your space force of Androsynth clones have defected to join the enermy, and the traitors have taken your only Hyperspace capable ships with them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 30 2018, @07:11PM
Houston Control was destroyed by Hurricane Pffffft!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 30 2018, @07:21PM (3 children)
this is tagged politics, why?
The Delta-v required from the cape is lower than from anywhere else in the continental US, so lunar missions.. with all the stuff that needs to go up have to go from there.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 30 2018, @07:46PM (1 child)
This isn't about launch sites.
oink, oink, oink
one reason for why Mission Control was in TX
"LBJ"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 30 2018, @10:07PM
Indeed. Which is why their insistence that the lunar lander program should be based in Houston rings a bit hollow. If, on the other hand, they could come up with a more cogent reason I might just agree with them.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday August 31 2018, @09:08AM
Because Texas senators lobbying to have the control of a space mission moved to their own back yard is not science, it's politics.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by ikanreed on Thursday August 30 2018, @08:09PM (11 children)
Senators, especially senators who pass budget cuts, should not be allowed to vote for spending in their home states.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 30 2018, @08:17PM (3 children)
But that screws with the idea of representation. Humans are quite frequently self-serving, there is no way around this.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Thursday August 30 2018, @08:35PM (2 children)
Turns out executing ted cruz in public is the solution to this.
(no really, I'd be okay with just putting a sticker on the problem and banning this exact bullshit constitutionally)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 30 2018, @09:40PM (1 child)
You can't ban them from lobbying for their own state, but we should ban riders on bills and every other fucked up thing that lets the delicious pork belly flow so freely.
(Score: 2) by chromas on Friday August 31 2018, @12:15AM
Wouldn't it be hilarious to sneak an anti-rider bill into a rider? And also require that every single person who votes for a bill has to read the whole thing at least twice and maybe initial every paragraph. Really, they should be going over the whole text together in class. If third-graders can do it…
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday August 30 2018, @08:26PM
Theoretically, the impulse to direct pork to your own district is tempered by the other 98 senators and 434 representatives who are trying to direct the same pork to their districts. Of course, they can and do deal with that by "I'll help you send pork to your district if you help me send pork to mine", at least within their party.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday August 30 2018, @09:08PM (5 children)
How about a term limit of 1 term?
Alternatively, increase term length for Congressmen from 2 to 4 years, so they aren't begging for votes as often. (Well, many will be enjoying the Incumbent Effect.)
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 30 2018, @10:24PM (4 children)
For many years I hated the idea of term limits; I felt that it should be up to the voters to decide how many terms a representative should serve. Now, though, I'm slowly coming round to the idea. My suggestions:
(1) maximum of 4 (or, possibly 6) 2-year terms in the House
(2) maximum of 2 6-year terms in the Senate
In theory, having a limited time as an elected representative should force the Congress critters to focus their attention on actually working on the issues they ran on. I would think this should be plenty of time for an elected representative to make substantial progress on whatever agenda they were seeking office for. My hope is that this would clear out rent-seekers in Congress and promote fuller participation of The People in running their government. Just a thought.
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Thursday August 30 2018, @11:16PM (3 children)
The problem with term limits is that congress turns into a group of rookies trying to govern. That, in itself, may not be so bad, but it could lead to the real power devolving to congressional staff, who aren't directly accountable to voters.
That being said, it couldn't be any more disruptive than electing Trump has been; let's give it a try.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday August 31 2018, @02:34AM (1 child)
Power devolving to congressional staff may or may not be a bad thing. Professional, career civil servants have always been with us, and they do represent stability. That staff can be controlled with actual laws. That system really isn't a bad one.
The system we actually have is demonstrably poor. Career politicians are very nearly the worst thing we can have.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday August 31 2018, @12:17PM
Aside, of course, from the minor detail of completely defeating the reason for term limits.
So can the present system with the same theory.
Except they're not elected and thus, much less accountable to the public than the present system.
So we should replace it with a demonstrably poorer system?
Look, let's just go to the endgame and put me in charge. I'll power trip responsibly.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 31 2018, @03:34PM
Original AC here. My proposal was for 4 to 6 2-year terms in the House and 2 6-year terms in the Senate. That works out to 20 to 24 years total for someone who gets elected to serve in both the House and Senate. I would think that after about 10 years you can reasonably assume that they are no longer "rookies".
(Score: 0) by MyOpinion on Thursday August 30 2018, @08:50PM
What stands to reason is that in order to "return to the Moon" one needs to first "have been to the Moon".
On closer inspection, "space agencies" always seem to be locked in a perpetual "gearing up" stage. Are 50+ million dollars US per day not enough? That must be it, right? That, and those damn [insert fav token demographic group here], right?
Truth is like a Lion: you need not defend it; let it loose, and it defends itself. https://discord.gg/3FScNwc
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday August 30 2018, @09:10PM (2 children)
The astronauts on the moon will need moral support from people who understand their daily struggles. The closest environment to put the controllers is therefore the Nevada test site [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday August 30 2018, @09:27PM (1 child)
Radiation levels have gone down too much. It'll need a couple of hypernukes to make it more cozy.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday August 30 2018, @10:21PM
Just rebuild BREN tower [wikipedia.org] right outside the control building.