Comments on: Is the Navy Sinking the U.S. Space Program? http://21stcenturywaves.com/2008/05/15/is-the-navy-sinking-the-us-space-program/ TECHNOLOGY BOOMS AND HUMAN EXPANSION INTO THE COSMOS Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:55:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Mike Zorn http://21stcenturywaves.com/2008/05/15/is-the-navy-sinking-the-us-space-program/comment-page-1/#comment-11 Mike Zorn Mon, 19 May 2008 20:07:16 +0000 http://21stcenturywaves.com/blog/2008/05/15/is-the-navy-sinking-the-us-space-program/#comment-11 One shuttle flight carries 6 - 8 astronauts. With 2 or 3 flights a year - and the shuttle retiring - that would leave about about 900 well-trained but unemployable astronaut-qualified people. The Navy is acting rationally, and the need for combat officers is not the main concern. In terms of the astronaut corps, 900 is a huge number, but in terms of the officer corps, not so big. Long-range planning is not the forte of those in government (or in NASA, it seems), but if we don't plan for the future, we plan to fail (according to some old proverb). On the other hand, how long did it take for us to get from the V-2 to the Moon? Did we do that without long-range planning? (That was the program that gave rise to the cultural saying, "They can put a man on the Moon, so why can't they do ......?".) There's a need for long-range thinkers, Big Picture thinkers, and this may be the place. One shuttle flight carries 6 – 8 astronauts. With 2 or 3 flights a year – and the shuttle retiring – that would leave about about 900 well-trained but unemployable astronaut-qualified people.

The Navy is acting rationally, and the need for combat officers is not the main concern. In terms of the astronaut corps, 900 is a huge number, but in terms of the officer corps, not so big.

Long-range planning is not the forte of those in government (or in NASA, it seems), but if we don’t plan for the future, we plan to fail (according to some old proverb).

On the other hand, how long did it take for us to get from the V-2 to the Moon? Did we do that without long-range planning? (That was the program that gave rise to the cultural saying, “They can put a man on the Moon, so why can’t they do ……?”.)

There’s a need for long-range thinkers, Big Picture thinkers, and this may be the place.

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