Attn JMS: The Mars Missions

[B5JMS Poster]

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From: norville at sirius.com
Date: 12 Dec 1999 19:12:55 -0700
Lines: 22

In article <19991212190725.18707.00000391 at ng-cm1.aol.com>, jmsatb5 at aol.com
(Jms at B5) wrote:
>>In light of the recent failures of the Mars probes, I'm hearing
>>increased talk of cutting funds to NASA, launching Congressional
>>hearings, and just rethinking the whole space idea and/or strategy.
>>Your work and perspective are highly regarded by many at NASA, maybe
>>even Congress. As someone with a vision of space, is there anything
>>you can think of to say to these obviously frustrated people?
>
> Maybe if they'd *had* proper funding, instead of having to scrape by and
> compromise things, the damned thing WOULD have landed intact.

Thanks for saying that, JMS... that's pretty much what I had to tell a
complainer in my family. She's been grumbling a lot about how all that
money for failed missions could've gone to the homeless and worthier
programs, and my reply is, well, if we had a president who supported NASA
in the least, and a government that gave a @$%&, maybe NASA would be
funded well enough so that they *wouldn't* lose money on failed missions,
and would instead be able to build stuff that worked as intended. "Better,
faster, cheaper"? I don't really think so... but B5 showed a future where
"built by the lowest bidder" was still prevalent...


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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 12 Dec 1999 23:09:24 -0700
Lines: 18

>She's been grumbling a lot about how all that
>money for failed missions could've gone to the homeless and worthier
>programs

Or one stealth bomber.

Do her and yourself a favor: buy her a copy of Michael Moore's DOWNSIZE
THIS...and let her get a sense of where far, FAR more money is really going.

 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com




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