Crewed SpaceX Dragon Launch

[La Paz de Los Ricos]

Down to ten minutes already? Feels like they only scrubbed it yesterday.

[Northwest Slobovia]

Within a single mission, yes: if NASA's approved a (notional) billion dollar mission, spending less on the booster means there's more to spend on science for that mission.

But the notion that NASA's budget is a slush fund, and that saving money on, for example, manned missions to the space station will free up money for space science is just wrong. Congress funds programs, not slush funds. An agency's budget is simply the sum of its funded projects. By design, agencies have limited scope to spend money as they want.

From Congress's point of view, there's only so much they will spend on "NASA stuff" and unless a president bends the curve upwards, it doesn't increase to accommodate a new program. The new program is introduced slowly as some other program winds-up or ends. Apollo being the exception.

Yes and mostly no. it's trite to say "the President proposes and Congress disposes", but it's closer to the truth than other views of the President's budget request. Congresscritters have interests for or against spaceflight, mostly dependent on how much money a mission will bring their district/state, and a few, like ex-Rep. Culberson, have obsessions specific interests in certain programs. So, the President's budget is interesting, but not a definitive, guide to space spending.

The "per program" model is technically true, but in reality Congress will only give so much, and lowering launch costs will not lower the total budget.

Not per se, but Congress may fund or not fund programs regardless of the total. I mean, you mention Apollo being the exception, but that's the exception that proves the rule: Congress is perfectly capable of saying "enough!" and whacking huge hunks out of any agency's budget. More practically, lower launch costs won't save NASA if the JWST is botched and Congress decides that having fewer toys would make it easier to keep track of how NASA is playing with them.

[NASA of course has plenty of ideas what to spend money on and can make it's pitch to the slush fund which is Congress.

Of course! I could think of projects that would triple NASA's budget without any trouble.

It's also true that it's Presidental and Congressional interest that drive NASA's budget, not an idea that NASA is a slush fund: cutting program X doesn't provide more money for program Y. This is sometimes suggested by people for or against (un)manned spaceflight as a way of boosting their pet projects.

(Image)

Incidentally, I hate graphs like that, since it's hard to see how the individual components of the total are doing, except in a general sense.

But that's not a bad way of showing what "NASA pull" looks like: that period corresponds to the first Planetary Decadal Science Survey, when NASA started to lay out a coherent plan for exploring the solar system (2003), and just the start of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Science Survey (2010) which did the same for the universe as a whole. It's a lot easier to get Congresscritters on board with spending money when it's not just "the President wants X, which the NASA Director can kinda explain" but "large swathes of the scientific community want these programs", which means the various science organizations are also lobbying Congress for them.

Whether you find that persuasive depends on whether you consider the ISS to be science spending or a high tech camp of Occupy Space.

ISS does no science that couldn't be done cheaper with robots other than the circular-logic mission "we need to put people in space to study the effects of putting people in space".

[Repubblica Fascista Sociale Italiana]

Mark Rober was just on the discovery channel

[La Paz de Los Ricos]

Hang on, did they just mention that the capsule uses touch-screen controls?

Am I the only one who sees anything wrong with that?

[The Two Jerseys]

I'm liking the NASA TV media feed!

[Dylar]

Something to listen to while watching

[The Two Jerseys]

Hang on, did they just mention that the capsule uses touch-screen controls?

Am I the only one who sees anything wrong with that?

Yeah, I'm not sold on ditching analog controls...

[The South Falls]

Hang on, did they just mention that the capsule uses touch-screen controls?

Am I the only one who sees anything wrong with that?

It's better than dials and switches that merely clutter the environment.

[Stellar Colonies]

Soon...I hope.

[The South Falls]

It's honestly beautiful to witness.



Is this what we could unlock if we convert to the church of ancap?

[Stellar Colonies]

And there it goes!

[Valrifell]

It's honestly beautiful to witness.



Is this what we could unlock if we convert to the church of ancap?

Don't even think about it.

[Soled]

It's so terrifying and awesome to see the Stage 1 rocket go back down.

[An Alan Smithee Nation]

And Trump takes the credit and bangs on about Space Force.

[The South Falls]

It's so terrifying and awesome to see the Stage 1 rocket go back down.

Watching things operate in space is breathtaking.

[Valrifell]

And Trump takes the credit and bangs on about Space Force.

I saw a Space Force recruitment ad during the coverage and I gagged.

[Stellar Colonies]

First stage has soft-landed successfully.

[Repubblica Fascista Sociale Italiana]

Amazing. Proud moment for all Americans here

[Kanadorika]

This is exactly what I, and many other people needed right now. The country isn't doing too good. Millions are locked indoors, cities are in flames...

And yet we still seek space. It's beautiful, and for the first time in a while, I feel like we as a country did something right.

[Nakena]

I love you too.

[The South Falls]

It's honestly beautiful to witness.



Is this what we could unlock if we convert to the church of ancap?

Don't even think about it.

This is peak libright, and I'll bask in it.

[Valrifell]

Amazing. Proud moment for all Americans here

It's ok.

[Nakena]

This is exactly what I, and many other people needed right now. The country isn't doing too good. Millions are locked indoors, cities are in flames...

And yet we still seek space. It's beautiful, and for the first time in a while, I feel like we as a country did something right.

That is the spirit. Never to give up, even in the face of death and unspeakable odds and countless pitfalls.

[Valrifell]

Don't even think about it.

This is peak libright, and I'll bask in it.

I'll remember this, class traitor

[Repubblica Fascista Sociale Italiana]

This is exactly what I, and many other people needed right now. The country isn't doing too good. Millions are locked indoors, cities are in flames...

And yet we still seek space. It's beautiful, and for the first time in a while, I feel like we as a country did something right.

A ray of bright hope