Financing the Space Program

[emswife]

I was reading that the Italian built shipping module will be bringing down, among other items, dirty clothes from the ISS with the first Oribter mission in May.<br /><br />Why doesn't someone from NASA consign this stuff to be sold on eBay, in space museums, wit Certificates of authenticity and perhaps an autograph. This alone could help offset some of the cuts proposed to one of the most vital federal programs.<br /><br />Hey, it works for NASCAR. Why shouldn't it work for NASA?<br /><br />(BTW, I want 10% for proposing this idea. This is my notice of intellectual property rights to the fundraising promotion... hey, it could happen!)

 

[CalliArcale]

Sadly, there is a reason why. NASA, like all government agencies, is barred from most commercial sales. Those dirty clothes are the property of either the astronauts who wore them or the United States government; NASA can't sell them in either case.<br /><br />The bureaucracy will get ya every time, I'm afraid. <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[emswife]

Can't the government donate them or sell them as government surplus? I see that stuff all the time in Army/Navy stores.<br /><br />Besides, can't NASA sell them at their space centers?