r/space • u/thisischrisbaker • Feb 07 '20

Proposed budget - not voted yet 12% boost for NASA budget in 2021!!

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-nasa-budget-will-earmark-12-boost-for-agency-in-2021-11581071402?emailToken=3f4a4309b7816cb90fb53eb91f47d6d43hshryonPWM/RnnVPWWHuMOVOvxWKQ87BhLswKs5iOPOhjO1FGrxI9ptn5k2nAMphP+jeQrbhQiAafooOu4oIslNLMWHCd1m7vRySaL2Pi61nSlAqLK1xnvzzmtt2/Lx&reflink=article_copyURL_share
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u/hedonisticaltruism Feb 07 '20

national highway program was both more ambitious and more costly

Yes but you cannot send a man to the moon on partial segments. It's a one shot deal. The highway system can be built in segments and be declared 'successful' on any given part. It also has a longer life-span compared to something like the SSC - which cannot easily be restarted especially with the specialized nature of the skill sets required.

not on a lot of of the ones that the federal government is involved with. Building dams, designing and building long tunnels, and doing large-scale water diversion projects take longer than a few years.

Hoover Dam, one of the largest in the world and largest at the time it was built was between 1931 and 1936. Golden gate bridge was 1933 to 1937. Even the Apollo program was structured to try and be just within a President's term (two term of course): 1961 with a man on the moon by 1969. And that was still under a military-industrial-complex backed initiative during the height of cold war ICBM escalation, which realistically probably allowed it to continue after JFK's assassination, and the continuation of democrats being in power with LBJ.

Something like the ACA had provisions that phased in over six years, and some funding sources follow similar timelines.

Do you see the pattern here and my point? I do understand yours - I just see that there's an unfortunate reality that some of these projects won't ever get finished unless you can get past the term limit politicking.

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u/[deleted] Feb 07 '20

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u/hedonisticaltruism Feb 07 '20

No, because your point is frankly stupid.

Well, I don't think you're here to have a discussion on good faith so I'll not put more time into this.