NASA's new mission

[Smokin]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/05/nasa-chief-frontier-better-relations-muslims/

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a recent interview that his "foremost" mission as the head of America's space exploration agency is to improve relations with the Muslim world.

Though international diplomacy would seem well outside NASA's orbit, Bolden said in an interview with Al Jazeera that strengthening those ties was among the top tasks President Obama assigned him. He said better interaction with the Muslim world would ultimately advance space travel.

"When I became the NASA administrator -- or before I became the NASA administrator -- he charged me with three things. One was he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math, he wanted me to expand our international relationships, and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science ... and math and engineering," Bolden said in the interview.

The NASA administrator was in the Middle East last month marking the one-year anniversary since Obama delivered an address to Muslim nations in Cairo. Bolden spoke in June at the American University in Cairo -- in his interview with Al Jazeera, he described space travel as an international collaboration of which Muslim nations must be a part.

"It is a matter of trying to reach out and get the best of all worlds, if you will, and there is much to be gained by drawing in the contributions that are possible from the Muslim (nations)," he said. He held up the International Space Station as a model, praising the contributions there from the Russians and the Chinese.

However, Bolden denied the suggestion that he was on a diplomatic mission -- in a distinctly non-diplomatic role.

"Not at all. It's not a diplomatic anything," he said.

He said the United States is not going to travel beyond low-Earth orbit on its own and that no country is going to make it to Mars without international help.

Bolden has faced criticism this year for overseeing the cancellation of the agency's Constellation program, which was building new rockets and spaceships capable of returning astronauts to the moon. Stressing the importance of international cooperation in future missions, Bolden told Al Jazeera that the moon, Mars and asteroids are still planned destinations for NASA.

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His "primary" mission is to make Muslims "feel good" about themselves? Guess he should fire all the engineers at NASA and hire some Muslim psychologists for this mission.

[brabus]

Just when you think he couldn't be any more of a dumbass...this happens. The sad thing is I'm really not surprised.

[SurelySerious]

I thought they were The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, not the Department of State.

[Royal]

third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science ... and math and engineering,"

And then this

However, Bolden denied the suggestion that he was on a diplomatic mission -- in a distinctly non-diplomatic role.

"Not at all. It's not a diplomatic anything," he said.

Uh okay. That's like saying Hillary Clinton doesn't meet with foreign dignitaries for diplomatic reasons.

The Muslim world needs to be the group reaching out to the rest of us; not the other way around. When I say reaching out, I don't mean in the form of IEDs and suicide bombings.

[bucky60k]

This whole episode reminded me of this

[sky_king]

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to visit the office of the Deputy Administrator of NASA in Washington, D.C. (true story) I sat in his office and he took time to explain NASA's long term "stepping stone" approach to space exploration which would result in manned missions to Mars and possibly beyond. At the time, the cost and logistics seemed nearly insurmountable, but he did say there are some at NASA who propose a one-way mission. Publicly, that's not the most attractive option, but it certainly alleviates a lot of problems.

Moral of the story is, a manned mission to Mars could be a suicide mission, and we need pros.

EDIT: I just got a PM from Allah. He's pissed and wants a word with me. I've no idea why.

EDIT 2: 2,000th post!

classic

[Guest Bushmaster78FS]

he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science ... and math and engineering,"

Yea? What about the Greeks?

Sick to my stomach with this nonsense... Everywhere we have bend over backwards to muslims while they do promote their crap...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEPod-hxD7g

Edited July 7, 2010 by Bushmaster78FS

[GrndPndr]

I keep asking myself how many other non-diplomatic federal agencies are tasked with reaching out to Muslims? If NASA, then who else? And...Why the F*ck are we doing that?

There is no reasonable explanation, except that Jack*ss POTUS is just a clueless idiot with some dangerous misconceptions about the Arab world.

A little bit at a time, our national identity is given away each and every day.

FM

[Guest Bushmaster78FS]

There is no reasonable explanation, except that Jack*ss POTUS is just a clueless idiot with some dangerous misconceptions about the Arab world.

He is trying to reconcile us brother, after all that bad doo-doo things we have done to them in response to 9/11. Edited July 7, 2010 by Bushmaster78FS

[B*D*A]

Oh, that's right, the reason the "Muslim world" hasn't made great strides in space travel is because we haven't asked them to tea yet. Remember the Arab media's treatment of Col. Ramon?

[Stitch]

He said the United States is not going to travel beyond low-Earth orbit on its own and that no country is going to make it to Mars without international help.

I call bull$h*t! We went to the fricken moon in 1969 [that's 41 years ago] without "other nations" help; and that, sure as God made little green apples, is way the heck out of low earth orbit. (With the possible exception of the Soviets motovating us to get there first.)

We did it then, we can do it again. Why some of our own people are so insistant on the USA giving up its leadership role in all things so other countries can "feel good" too, I'll never understand.

Edit for spelling.

Edited July 7, 2010 by Stitch

[Alpharatz]

Well, you have to remember that "some of our people" are operating on the "skills" and "training" and "experience" of your average mid-level lawyer....which is to say no engineering, math, science, military, industrial etc. etc. experience at all. Good at basketball I hear....

.....Maybe NASA can make some use of those flying carpets"

[Gravedigger]

Iran's current space capabilities are roughly equivalent to the US or USSR in the late 40's to early 50's. The Shahab III is crap, and Iran's attempts at satellite technology have just now equaled Sputnik. They have absolutely zero capability to provide us. The same can be said for the rest of the Islamic countries.

That said, space must remain a realm of international cooperation. We must work closely with China, Japan, Russia, ESA, and Brazil if we want to make any further strides in space exploration. We simply can't afford to go it alone. That's the bottom line.

Space should have nothing to do with religion.

[sky_king]

Space should have nothing to do with religion.

But isn't that where God lives?