Fooling Yourself
I was asked to comment on this article. I think Greg’s replies have done a better job than I ever could have in proving the futility of such comments.
According to him, the world consists of the established and successful NASA and the young and inexperienced "New Space Boys" and no-one else. Inexplicably the Boeing corporation exists in both camps.
The "whisper campaign" against Constellation, which no sensible person would deny existed, is absurdly attributed to "New Space Boys" in an effort to rewrite history – it was clearly NASA civil servants, contractors and other malcontents under the DIRECT banner who led that effort, advocating a Shuttle-derived launch vehicle over Griffin's Ares launch family.
If the civil war inside NASA is to be divided into two camps at all, those are the battle lines which have been firmly established. But like all bipolar characterizations, this is also too simplistic.
The enormity of Greg's worldview is just scapegoating – on the current administration and the new entrants into the much maligned space industry. It's a desperate attempt to understand a complex interaction of multiple players with various goals by pointing fingers and crying foul. This kind of worldview can only be maintained by denial of contradiction, such as the Boeing corporation.
According to him, the world consists of the established and successful NASA and the young and inexperienced "New Space Boys" and no-one else. Inexplicably the Boeing corporation exists in both camps.
The "whisper campaign" against Constellation, which no sensible person would deny existed, is absurdly attributed to "New Space Boys" in an effort to rewrite history – it was clearly NASA civil servants, contractors and other malcontents under the DIRECT banner who led that effort, advocating a Shuttle-derived launch vehicle over Griffin's Ares launch family.
If the civil war inside NASA is to be divided into two camps at all, those are the battle lines which have been firmly established. But like all bipolar characterizations, this is also too simplistic.
The enormity of Greg's worldview is just scapegoating – on the current administration and the new entrants into the much maligned space industry. It's a desperate attempt to understand a complex interaction of multiple players with various goals by pointing fingers and crying foul. This kind of worldview can only be maintained by denial of contradiction, such as the Boeing corporation.
Hey Trent, I haven't seen you whining at nasaspaceflight.com lately. Did you get banned?
ReplyDeleteYes, I did AC. Thanks for asking.
ReplyDeleteOnly thing I hate about nasaspaceflight.com, they have limited tolerance for anyone who does not got for the NASA built rocket. I miss the space.com forums.
ReplyDeleteFrom their comments: I know that Mr. Musk has ambitious dreams for his company and dreams of colonization, but his dreams does not mean NASA will go along with them.
ReplyDeleteIt's going to be a real shock to some when they find that NASA has essentially dealt itself out of the game and private enterprise has dealt itself in.
Obviously the relative size of current budgets has blinded them to the trajectories.