How to get Americans charged up about Space

[astrophoto]

You wouldnt be reading this post if you werent already enthusiastic about space, so these ideas do not apply to you. They should apply to the other 99% of Joe Schmo American.<br /><br />How do we re-charge the energy of the space program for NASA? If we forget about giving up on them and strictly relying on commercial endeavors, what do we need to do? My answer is pretty simplistic.<br /><br />What do Americans love more than anything else? Cars. Cool cars, big ones, fast ones, pretty ones. We spend ungodly sums of money on them and the gas they feed on. We love the radio crankin on the open road with a big block engine humming under the hood. We like the way other people look at our car with envy or lust. To borrow a phrase from Marketing -- it's sexy. NASA needs something sexy. My idea (not really a new idea by any stretch) is to not only design a crew launch vehicle that 'gets the job done' ... but it does so in style. It has whizbangs and gizmos that the Average John Q. Public can empathize with and get on board with.<br /><br />NASA engineers sitting there on a panel and going on about CLB's of MCR's of GLHP's means jack crap to 99% of Americans. Americans want something that screams American on it. The shuttle for all its flaws had a sexy look for it when it was first built. We need a muscle car of crew vehicles. The look of it should be designed by Hollywood moguls and guys like those on American Chopper.<br /><br />Paint it with anti-French symbology and make the Astronauts drop the Tang and eat greesy cheeseburgers. Have hot women in skimpy clothes at the unveiling. Talk about how we're going to conquer space, put some people on the Moon and join the 100 mile high club with your woman in the closet. Sounds offensive doesnt it? It should to you, you arent the target audience. Neither am I.<br /><br />It's time to drop the pocket protectors and grab the welding torch, tatoos and bad attitudes that Americans love so much.<br /><br />Looking forward to

 

[ehs40]

i agree with u to an extent i dont think that anti french is going to help nasa get funding but i do agree that nasa needs to spark intrest in america because i like the space program but even i think it is boring nasa just needs to do some more missions to the moon and mars and if nasa wanted to spark intrest have a way for people to recomond what missions should be done

 

[lunatio_gordin]

people don't know how many planets there are. 90% can't list them all. they'd propose building Enterprises and X wings. Best case, they say send a robot to mars, not knowing that there are already two there...<br /><br />letting the public have direct control is a really bad idea.

 

[ehs40]

its just an idea if an idea is too unreasonable i would hope the guys at nasa could say no. but nasa should have more things like the x-prizelike have some easy things that nasa dosent have time for but would be useful to reaqll hard projects and people in need if a pay day might give it a try

 

[john_316]

in the late 70's and early 80's NASA engineers and astronauts visited the high schools all over the country and talked to students about space and the space shuttle and everyone was hooked...<br /><br />thats what they need to do again... good public relations and good visibility and we will attract the kids again and they will race to goto college again and do all the kool things in life that apart of NASA...<br /><br />

 

[ehs40]

thats a great idea. i am a high school and would love it if some nasa people came to visit my school and there a good many people at my school that would like it as well

 

[vogon13]

How about dribbling a little technology towards China to give their program a nudge?<br /><br />Competition might be good for a boost towards NASA budget in response. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[vogon13]

How do I come up with stuff like that?<br /><br /><br />Must be a gift or something.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[strandedonearth]

Just get "Monster Garage" to build the CEV <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /><br /><br />Once they've had practice with that, get them to build the launcher, too.<br /><br />Now, where'd they stick the beer cooler? <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" />

 

[ehs40]

just like the space race all over again and we will win again 2

 

[strandedonearth]

"2. You make a reality show out of the Astronaut Candidate school "<br /><br />Survivor: Mir was proposed once upon a time.<br /><br />

 

[halman]

astrophoto,<br /><br />Not since the 1960's has the average person been able to see with their own, uneducated eyes where our efforts in space are directed. There is only one place in outer space that anyone who has the sense of sight can see without having someone else point it out to them. Sure, you can see the International Space Station, sometimes, from some parts of the country, but it is just another little light in the sky. To most people, we could be sending people to Alpha Centauri, Sirrius, or Andromeda, for all they know.<br /><br />There is only one goal in space that the average layman is going to understand, and that is the Moon, because they can see it with their own eyes, and it even LOOKS like a place, not just a little point of light. And don't give me the "We have already been there," crap, because every American knows that there is no one driving around up there right now. Until that is the case, we have not finished with the Moon. All of the neat science, all of the probes to far planets, these mean nothing to people who don't have any idea what the Solar System looks like.<br /><br />Tell people that we are going to the Moon, so that people can live and work up there, and you will see some interest. Once we get there, it won't really matter what people think, because industry will be getting involved, spending big money, and sending people up there. And nothing will make space more immediate than having a friend or relative who is working on the Moon. It won't be Buck Rogers spending Fort Knox on something that we can't even see, it will be a PLACE, where money is being made, and adventure is happening. Give people back the only goal in space that they can understand, the Moon. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> The secret to peace of mind is a short attention span. </div>

 

[grooble]

People will get the settler bug too.

 

[shuttle2moon]

No one is mentioning that fear mongering might work. Play up the China space race.....SCARE 'em..<br /><br />God knows it worked in Iraq.. *rolls eyes*

 

[vogon13]

Was aware of Loral 'dribble'. Some of the Chinese hardware looks 'Soviet" too.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[astrophoto]

I agree that the Moon should be the target, but I think we need more than just a target. We need something to get the 20-40 crowd excited, not more crewcut blue eyed pilots yessiring their way into a spaceship.<br /><br />Also, we should think what needs to be done on the Moon to make it 'cool'. Obviously focus #1 is on safety and sustainability. Step #2 ... hmmm. What about something large enough to be seen from Earth with a pair of binoculars? So that people can SEE we're actually there and not just read about it.

 

[ehs40]

i agree that when we return to the moon that we need to build something that can be seen from earth who knows it might start a large increase in telescope buying

 

[chriscdc]

The first return trip to the moon should be a reality show.<br /><br />Now I remember what the CEV is missing. An arial with the capable of transmitting HDTV. Moon Rovers should have realtime HDTV video streams. This will make it feel real. The power required to power the transmission will have been better spent than on yet another dull as dish water experiment.<br /><br />We could use the same astronauts again and again. Not train multiple crews every year. The astronauts will become celebrities and not just disappear.<br /><br />What is with the idea that pilots make good astronauts? Capsules really fly like planes don't they, and the shuttle is 100% computer controlled. Ok so Apollo landings required skill but they spent so much time in simulators you could get average Joe (with decent hand eye coordination) to pull them off. Small rant over.<br /><br />Finance more cool space documentaries. I know more about Geology and Biology due to documentaries than school. <br />Get James Cameroon to direct. What more will get kids watching a docu than by saying it was done by the guy who did Terminator 1 and 2, Aliens and Titanic.<br /><br />How about a mini series outlining a fictional future for humans in space over the next 50 years. There are hundreds of books out there that could be the basis. How about Stephen baxters Space, where they go to a near earth asteroid and build a self sustaining colony.

 

[askold]

We need a race. That's why the original Mercury and Apollo programs were so popular - we were racing the Russians. As soon as we won, the race was over and so was the interest level.<br /><br />We should launch a pennant and plant it on the moon. Who ever retrieves the pennant wins.<br /><br />There could be a reality show wrapped around the competition.<br /><br />

 

[no_way]

Theres an easy way to get people interested : if any of them gets to go. <br />NASA is not working towards that goal no how, so all efforts to get people excited about it will remain marginal. Oh sure, you can scare people with Chinese threat, or try do cheap entertainment for a short while with TV shows, but they wont be interested for long and not truly interested anyway.<br /><br />Give them United Spacelines and American Translunar with affordable tickets and they will be jumping all over you.<br />

 

[lunatio_gordin]

This is sort of happening even now. Diet 7up has that contest. unfortunately, i have yet to find a can of Diet 7up that WAS participating, but i'm sure they must exist somehwere.

 

[halman]

askold,<br /><br />To many people, we are already in a race, a race with the damage that is being done to the Earth's evironment. Space represents a playground for our industrialists and scientists that is safe for them to do what they will, because it is improbable that anything that they do out there will affect Earth.<br /><br />As far as a race with another country, I don't think that we could afford winning again. What I mean by that is that this effort has GOT to be built on sustainability, modular growth, and long term thinking. The Apollo program was all about putting Americans on the Moon first, with no thought of what was to come afterward. So no space-based infrastructure was created, no buildings were left on the Moon for the next explorers, and huge amounts of money and hardware were thrown away. Perhaps, if the Vietnam war had not gotten in the way, we would have built upon our success. But the obvious lack of follow-up was one of the worst public relations disasters that NASA has suffered through.<br /><br />I don't think that it makes any difference if the Chinese were to land on the Moon before the Americans do, as long as whoever goes there is prepared to lay the groundwork for the creation of a permanent base. Any more grandstanding, showboating, or other form of thumbing our noses at the rest of the world is only going to set us back again. Do people realize that it is almost like Apollo never happened? We have hardly got anything to show for the lives and money that were sunk into that effort, and it probably set back the development of space travel by at least 20 years. Don't get me wrong, I am proud of the fact that Americans succeded, but I am ashamed that we did absolutely nothing with our accomplishment. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> The secret to peace of mind is a short attention span. </div>

 

[arobie]

How to get Americans charged up about Space....<br /><br />Get them involved. Right now none of it affects them in any way, or so they think. Make it a personal thing.<br /><br />

 

[askold]

halman,<br /><br />My post was sort of a joke - in the spirit of the thread: funny ways to get people excited about Space.<br /><br />As to your comments: I would not fault the Apollo program for not doing more. Apollo was a pioneering program, very much pushing the state-of-the-art. At its level of technology, Apollo could just get itself to the moon and back - not leave anything behind.<br /><br />If you're suggesting that the point of space exporation is to accomplish things that will have a positive effect on the Earth - then I heartily agree.

 

[arobie]

I like the competition idea. Contests to build rockets and so on.<br /><br />But I don't like too much competition between counties, so much so that it turns into a race. I'm wary of a race ending up like like Apollo ended up: accomplishment, but nothing to build upon and little gained (space advancement wise) from the efforts.