Good day - I hope.

Copied a post from the Mars Society which is a copy from Space.com
http://www.space.com/news/051021_budget_fight.html

If you go to Space.com you can read all the adds and related links.

I know, we get enough adds, BUT ......

Somehow it seems that it will be very important to lend support to the idea that SPACE IS A PLACE and that is worthwhile being there and developing its use for further generations.

I have been watching the History Channel on cable and they ran stories about the Apollo Missions all week. I hope a goodly number of folks watched and were excited about this bit of history.

Now, we need to make some more history so this generation can participate.

(hmmm, where is that old Polaroid snap I took of my TV as Apollo 11 touched down?)
http://www.live365.com/stations/apollo_11_oda
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo11.html
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo_11_30th.html
http://www.boeing.com/news/feature/apollo11/gallery/apollo10.html

Don't let the storms here on Earth stop us from tackling the dust on the Moon.
- LRK -



Larry Kellogg

Web Site http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
Blog Spot http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link at http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
News ltr at https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update

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Heads up, everbody.
Jeffrey Liss
Member, Board of Directors
National Space Society

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http://www.space.com/news/051021_budget_fight.html

Top Dem on House Science Committee Predicts Tough Fight for NASA's Budget
By Colin Clark
Editor, Washington Aerospace Briefing
posted: 21 October 2005
03:15 pm ET

WASHINGTON –- The top Democrat on the House Science Committee says NASA faces
a protracted fight for its budget and the future of space exploration, and
that the attacks will come from the right and the left.

Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) told the audience at an Oct. 21 breakfast meeting
of the Space Transportation Association that he expects conservative
Republicans to press for savings from the NASA budget and some Democrats to push for
NASA dollars to be spent on “problems here on Earth.”

Defending the NASA budget will be difficult, Gordon said, in part because the
agency suffers from a credibility problem arising from years of broken
promises and incorrect cost projections on programs like the international space
station. On top of that, he said, U.S. President George W. Bush’s vision for
returning to the Moon and going on to Mars is difficult to defend when funding
gets tight. “Going to the Moon is just something that is so easy to slap at,” he
said.

To counter those weaknesses, he urged the space community to do a better job
mobilizing lower tier suppliers to lobby Congress on behalf of the space
agency’s agenda. He urged them to build a strong coalition to bolster NASA and do a
better job of communicating NASA’s importance to the general public. Part of
that coalition’s job will be to “explain that we are going to the Moon not
just on a tourist expedition but that there are good reasons for it.”

“Even though I think we will get by this time, what we want to avoid is blood
in the water,” said Gordon, noting that any cuts in NASA’s budget now would
send the message that the agency is easy prey for those searching the federal
budget waters for spending cuts.

“We are getting into an every-man-for-himself situation,” Gordon said. That
environment, he said, makes cuts to the NASA budget over the next three to
four years a “realistic scenario.”

When push comes to shove and the power of the president may be the only thing
standing between NASA and significant budget cuts, Gordon said he is worried
that Bush might not come through.

“I don’t think President Bush is a space guy when it comes down to it,” he
said, citing the president’s apparent lack of interest in space issues while he
was governor of Texas.

Several space industry officials who attended the breakfast said they were
watching the coming federal budget clash with trepidation and planned to do as
much as possible to avoid cuts to NASA’s budget, especially its space
exploration spending.

“As a member of the Coalition for Space Exploration, it is critical that we
heed his challenge to do a better job of communicating the benefits and
relevance of space R&D to a broad public audience,” said one attendee.

Several sources at the breakfast expressed some surprise at Gordon’s call to
bolster the use of suppliers to lobby Congress. “We already do everything he
mentioned,” said one industry representative. “But we’ll keep pushing, because
he’s right that people are going to come after NASA dollars.”


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Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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