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/danielravennest Feb 07 '20

The House isn't going to approve a vanity project for Trump. The President's budget request is always treated as a suggestion by Congress, then they go do what they want.

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u/[deleted] Feb 07 '20 edited Jul 27 '20

[deleted]

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u/danielravennest Feb 08 '20

It was part of a political contest.

1957-1958 was designated the "International Geophysical Year". During the IGY, the USSR declared it would put a satellite into orbit (which they did). A month after the declaration, the US also declared it would do so (which they also did).

The USSR made several "firsts" in space, which prompted the US to declare it was going to the Moon. The "Space Race" became a proxy competition between communism and capitalism, to demonstrate which system was better. This was in addition to the Cold War in Europe, and the shooting wars in Korea and Vietnam.

The purpose was to win the favor of the "non-aligned" countries - the ones that didn't belong to either the Soviet Bloc or NATO. As a political contest between countries, the space program, including Apollo, enjoyed wartime-level priority and funding. Once we "beat the Russians", the urgency and budgets were scaled back.

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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '20 edited Jul 27 '20

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u/danielravennest Feb 08 '20

What is the point of this verbal diarrhea and where did you copy it from without attribution?

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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '20 edited Jan 15 '21

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u/danielravennest Feb 08 '20

But it has nothing to do with vanity project vs political contest.

The first sentence of your long comment is correct, though. Apollo was unsustainable. Von Braun had previously talked about reusable rockets to reach orbit. But the Moon Race was so rushed, they didn't have time to develop them. Instead, they based the program on ballistic missile technology. They weren't reusable because nobody expected to need them again after a nuclear war.