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4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

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Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#111
post #53
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could swap "tech" for "big media" and just play the same blame game for Reagan's and Bush Jr's elections. > the crown jewels of America’s last century Including Nasa in this pure idealization of the past. Nasa had many flaws that enabled a catastrophic Shuttle program and then the slow loss of US go-to-LEO capability. There's probably more to expect of US investment in space without incompetent or contradictory m…

The shuttle program wasnt what NASA wanted to do, it was the military that pushed for that. It's ironic that you'd blame them for the thing they didnt want to do. If theyd kept their budget and autonomy after the moon landing it looked like they wouldve been building reusable rockets like the ones elon is building now, except in like, 1980.

It's ironic that you didn't read a comment before answering.

> it's unclear that Nasa can ever be without that (military and political) oversight

By design, Nasa is probably doomed to get interference.

> If theyd kept their budget and autonomy after the moon landing it looked like they wouldve been building reusable rockets

Pure fantasy. Nasa's interest for reusable vehicles led them to the Shuttle. Even without all the design changes, it would have been a dud.

Due to its nature, Nasa can't freely explore and commit to a design like SpaceX does/did. It draws a concept and freezes it after contractor review, only to find after an already massive investment if it works. Then there's public accountability instead of executive risk taking.

I'd bet the proper way to have protected Nasa would have been to keep it focused on key scientific missions with limited financial exposure. Mars rovers are a perfect case, or most James Webb.

Using Nasa to go back to the Moon or reach Mars was doomed to fail (sort of like it failed post Apollo).

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#112
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How does the US influence elections in Russia/China? Are you claiming the CIA doesn't exist? Are you claiming there was never any stay behind organisation? Are you claiming the entire continent of south america doesn't see USA intervention every time they vote wrong? I also don't like dictatorships, and USA propped dictators aren't any better than russian ones.

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Italy and sweden are dictatorships now? The problem here is that anything becomes a dictatorship to you the second anyone you don't like is elected.

edit: oh I see it's a newly created account for the purpose of trolling… silly me.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#113

The real game the current administration is playing is to land on Mars before their current term expires. This mirrors the political, prestige, and technology triumph of the Kennedy administration. This is why the BBB Bill refocussed on the Mars mission despite having cuts. What is being cut is otherwise a symptom of the budget deficit (7%) and the fact that politically they cut areas where there are not republican v…

> The real game the current administration is playing is to land on Mars before their current term expires.

This will literally not happen and anyone who thinks it will needs to seek professional help.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#114
post #111
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The shuttle program wasnt what NASA wanted to do, it was the military that pushed for that. It's ironic that you'd blame them for the thing they didnt want to do. If theyd kept their budget and autonomy after the moon landing it looked like they wouldve been building reusable rockets like the ones elon is building now, except in like, 1980.

It's ironic that you didn't read a comment before answering. > it's unclear that Nasa can ever be without that (military and political) oversight By design, Nasa is probably doomed to get interference. > If theyd kept their budget and autonomy after the moon landing it looked like they wouldve been building reusable rockets Pure fantasy. Nasa's interest for reusable vehicles led them to the Shuttle. Even without all…

>Nasa's interest for reusable vehicles led them to the Shuttle

The shuttle was a result of budget cuts they had no control over, military pressure they had no control over AND an interest in reusable spacecraft. The latter wasnt the problem.

The way I see it you are either blaming the organization for something it had no control over or are making an incoherent point in order to disparage the organization. Perhaps you could illuminate a 3rd interpretation of your comment.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#115

I know a few of these people. The two I've spoken with since their resignation basically said, "we're definitely getting laid off unless something insane changes with the funding cuts so at least this way we get a severance." It's really sad how our NASA funding is the lowest it's been since 1961. https://www.planetary.org/articles/nasa-2026-budget-proposal... I'm so sick of the not only incompetent leadership in the…

i too knew a lot of NASA employed peopled and it’s always regrettable to lose a job but.. what the heck was our space program doing? i know they blamed changing leadership and changing budget but the space shuttle’s replacement program was run horribly. the only working part of cape canaveral was whatever spy satellites they needed to launch. thankfully spaceX does a pretty good job and while I wish it was still nasa…

NASA does way more than Artemis. And, absurdly, the budget is cutting almost everything but Artemis and instead shoveling more money into pointless rockets.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#116
post #72

The real game the current administration is playing is to land on Mars before their current term expires. This mirrors the political, prestige, and technology triumph of the Kennedy administration. This is why the BBB Bill refocussed on the Mars mission despite having cuts. What is being cut is otherwise a symptom of the budget deficit (7%) and the fact that politically they cut areas where there are not republican v…

There is zero chance that humans will land on Mars before the end of the current administration. It isn't technically feasible. They are not seriously planning on this.

I don't think we should underestimate how poor their grasp of technical reality might be.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#117
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could swap "tech" for "big media" and just play the same blame game for Reagan's and Bush Jr's elections. > the crown jewels of America’s last century Including Nasa in this pure idealization of the past. Nasa had many flaws that enabled a catastrophic Shuttle program and then the slow loss of US go-to-LEO capability. There's probably more to expect of US investment in space without incompetent or contradictory m…

Do you remember when a President of the United States was impeached for an affair with an adult intern? Do you remember when a Republican presidential nominee defended his opponent from a racist question at a Republican Rally, calling him a "decent family man?" -- Then, can you think of a time when a POTUS committed a pump a security he was selling, only to dump it immediately after his inauguration, and it it was ba…

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Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#118
post #8
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What part of this do you think is the fault of the “tech industry”? The tech industry certainly has its flaws and things to criticize, but this doesn’t seem part of it, unless I’m missing a connection somehow.

Peter Thiel, David Sacks, Ellison and of course Elon Musk who funded the trump

It feels like malpractice to leave Andreessen off the list, if only because he's such a good example of how losery and pathetic the tech moguls really are.

Imagine becoming wealthy and powerful in an age of abundance off of NCSA Mosaic and throwing it all away because you feel threatened by black people and think that government funded research is now bad. That's the level of "advanced thought" in these guys' group chats.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#119
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they only welcomed him after he won in a big ring kissing competition (apart from Musk and a famous VC or two of course)

Somehow, they did not welcomed previous democratic president. And somehow, I doubt they would welcome Harris the same way. Like common, they were eager and happy to kiss the ring and support him.

> Somehow, they did not welcomed previous democratic president

They did, but such information is not brought up due to political bias here. For example, how many people here know that Uber donated $1 million(the max amount possible) to Biden's inauguration? Google, Amazon and Microsoft donated too.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#120
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wasn't alive but I read about how people made fun of Carter for being a peanut farmer. So much for Americans believing in hard work and salt of the earth! Now they have a NYC property developer. To understand America do not listen to what they say but watch what they do...

You may not realize this because the vast majority of people don’t realize it, but there are far deeper things going on with both those situations, i.e., how Reagan became what he did and why Carter was so attacked and for so long. It takes immense understanding of history and geopolitical matters beyond what the system’s education system can impart, which makes it challenging to understand things properly. Think of…

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