US Presidential Race Goes Into Space

[MiniMan64]

Spotted this today but hasn't appeared in the mainstream press over yet.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/us-moon-pledge-white-hous...

Yahoo News said:

Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has tried a new tactic to win voters - by promising to establish a permanent US base on the Moon by 2020 if he is elected.

He told a crowd near the Kennedy Space Centre , on Florida's so-called Space Coast, that he wants to build a commercial space industry that can enjoy the kind of boom airlines saw in the 1930s.

Republican Mr Gingrich , who is battling other candidates for the top job at the White House, also wants to expand the exploration of Mars.


The announcements won applause from hundreds of local aerospace bosses and community leaders, who have seen the space industry badly hit by federal cuts under Barack Obama.

"We want Americans to think boldly about the future," said Mr Gingrich during the campaign rally.

"By the end of my second term we will have the first permanent base on the Moon and it will be American."

Interesting.

But feasible on that time scale? Hmmmmm...

[davepoth]

NASA currently can't put a person into orbit without the Russians. On the current schedule the whatever it is they'll have to replace the shuttle won't be ready until 2015 I think, which doesn't leave much time to develop a reusable lunar lander, loft dozens of base modules into lunar orbit, get those modules to the surface, and then send people to it to connect them up. Quite ambitious. But then Gordon Brown promised us the end of boom and bust.

[SystemParanoia]

kenedy did it. why doubt that it can be done again ?

[SystemParanoia]

lol farfetched i know... but i dream of the stars.. and manned missions around the solar system. not gonna happen.. but let a guy believe ther'es a chance please!

[MiniMan64]

Lets me honest, he's still an outside shot for candidate and do we really think either of them can beat Obama?

[rhinochopig]

In the cellar there was a tunnel scarcely ten yards long. It had taken him a week to dig. I could have dug that much in a day, and I suddenly had my first inkling of the gulf between his dreams and his power.

[Simpo Two]

PW said:

Getting 1 person or more to stand briefly on the Moon's surface within 10 years, vs creating a permanent, manned "base" within 8.

I wonder which is easier/faster, setting up a permanent manned base on the Moon, or getting one man to Mars and back? The latter would surely have more kudos.

[jmorgan]

Where is the loot comming from? Empty ptomoses?

[Simpo Two]

jmorgan said:

Where is the loot comming from? Empty ptomoses?

Is that slang for hippopotamuses?

[Zad]

4-page thread on the subject here: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Synopsis: Bloke who wants to be president is promising lots of stuff that there's no money for.