Comments on: Great quote from NASA http://www.librarymonk.com/2005/08/great-quote-from-nasa/ Written by Dan Greene, web designer and library geek. Topics covered here include Library and Information Science, Information Technology, web design, and maybe even a monk or two Mon, 08 Sep 2008 11:04:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Iris http://www.librarymonk.com/2005/08/great-quote-from-nasa/#comment-529 Iris Fri, 12 Aug 2005 03:23:00 +0000 http://www.librarymonk.com/2005/08/great-quote-from-nasa/#comment-529 While the new design makes sense for the administration's plans on further human exploration of the Moon and perhaps beyond, I think the current shuttle design is perhaps humanity's most beautiful human transport device. Graceful in shape unlike its sharp and somewhat angular and awkward forebearers, it represented the civilizing of space travel. Humans could not only shoot up into the sky, they could float in it, build in it, and then decend back to earth, landing neatly and properly, as if jumping off the planet were something routine. This illusion of a routine is of course what got the mission in trouble, as presidents and congresses again and again decided to cut funding, replacing scientists with business managers and bean counters. The new design, in my opinion, is almost to admit failure, to choose the cheap way, and perhaps not the best. It will be a sad day if the shuttle program ever really retires, but there's no telling what might happen. The final dates on shuttle retirement are so far in the future that the next administration might well reverse the decision. While the new design makes sense for the administration’s plans on further human exploration of the Moon and perhaps beyond, I think the current shuttle design is perhaps humanity’s most beautiful human transport device. Graceful in shape unlike its sharp and somewhat angular and awkward forebearers, it represented the civilizing of space travel. Humans could not only shoot up into the sky, they could float in it, build in it, and then decend back to earth, landing neatly and properly, as if jumping off the planet were something routine.

This illusion of a routine is of course what got the mission in trouble, as presidents and congresses again and again decided to cut funding, replacing scientists with business managers and bean counters. The new design, in my opinion, is almost to admit failure, to choose the cheap way, and perhaps not the best. It will be a sad day if the shuttle program ever really retires, but there’s no telling what might happen. The final dates on shuttle retirement are so far in the future that the next administration might well reverse the decision.

]]> By: Library Monk http://www.librarymonk.com/2005/08/great-quote-from-nasa/#comment-526 Library Monk Wed, 03 Aug 2005 19:18:15 +0000 http://www.librarymonk.com/2005/08/great-quote-from-nasa/#comment-526 Years of talking about doing something so you can do nothing and not solve anything is in fact the very definition of graduate school. :-) Years of talking about doing something so you can do nothing and not solve anything is in fact the very definition of graduate school. :-)

]]> By: physcs boy http://www.librarymonk.com/2005/08/great-quote-from-nasa/#comment-525 physcs boy Wed, 03 Aug 2005 19:14:55 +0000 http://www.librarymonk.com/2005/08/great-quote-from-nasa/#comment-525 Really, they just need heads. Or the grey stuff that fills them up. It took them years of talking about doing something so they could do nothing and not solve an obvious problem. I hope that approach works for graduate school. Really, they just need heads. Or the grey stuff that fills them up. It took them years of talking about doing something so they could do nothing and not solve an obvious problem. I hope that approach works for graduate school.

]]> By: Stephanie Greene http://www.librarymonk.com/2005/08/great-quote-from-nasa/#comment-524 Stephanie Greene Tue, 02 Aug 2005 23:07:51 +0000 http://www.librarymonk.com/2005/08/great-quote-from-nasa/#comment-524 Someone should send NASA some Head and Shoulders... Someone should send NASA some Head and Shoulders…

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