Quantum Windbag
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- May 9, 2010
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Newt's idea is going to do more damage to NASA than anything anyone who hates science can possibly do. If you want to get people to the moon the last person you should vote for.
The Newt-onian Mechanics of Building a Permanent Moon Base | The Crux | Discover Magazine
On Wednesday, January 25th, Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich spoke to a crowd of supporters in Florida. In a short speech guaranteed to create a buzzonline, as well as among space enthusiastshe declared that if elected president, by the end of my second term we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American.
Thats a pretty bold statement. Unfortunately, its also impossible.
Ill note he followed that up with something that is far more likely:
We will have commercial near-Earth activities that include science, tourism, and manufacturing, and are designed to create a robust industry precisely on the model of the development of the airlines in the 1930s, because it is in our interest to acquire so much experience in space that we clearly have a capacity that the Chinese and the Russians will never come anywhere close to matching.
Thats a lovely thought, but while thats a more realistic goal, its likely to happen whether or not Gingrich makes it to the White House.
The Newt-onian Mechanics of Building a Permanent Moon Base | The Crux | Discover Magazine