$16.8 billion a year.
That's our space program's annual budget. Lots of our hard-earned dough, in the form of tax dollars, helps fund the goings-on at NASA.
So what, exactly IS going on at NASA? From a quick glance at the headlines, I'd say a lot of wacky, weird, freaky, and sometimes highly illegal stuff.
-- A report released yesterday indicates that NASA officials let at least two astronauts fly while drunk, even after flight surgeons and fellow astronauts raised concerns that safety might be jeopardized.
-- This report comes from an independent panel created by NASA after the arrest of astronaut Lisa Nowak in February on charges she tried to kidnap her rival in a love triangle, after driving halfway across the country wearing an adult diaper so she did not have to waste time by making any stops along the way. All three individuals in said triangle worked at NASA.
-- Within hours of the report's release, NASA also announced that a computer scheduled to be delivered to the international space station next month had been sabotaged, with its wires intentionally cut.
I'd like to know just how many headlines in today's paper read: "Houston, we have a problem..."
To quote The X-Files, "The truth is out there." And we're finding out the truth is, NASA's not a space administration. It's a soap opera. Little green men at Roswell seems sort of tame compared to drunken, lustful, sabotaging, kidnapping, possibly homicidal behaviors. And somehow we're surprised when a shuttle blows up.
We should be getting more for our $16.8 billion. More actual scientific work. I can watch Days of our Lives on network TV for free.
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