Political Campaigns Statements on NASA

[Tea Party Space Czar]

No matter what a president wants to do, congress still holds the purse strings.

This is the most accurate statement on record.  It is just my opinion but old space will continue to suck valuable resources (dollars) from things that work in sluggard projects like SLS and JWST.

As for political statements I think both parties have pretty generic statements with broad strokes of the brush.  No one wants to risk political capital on space but they sure will take credit for it.  Bush 41, Clintion, Bush 43, Obama, and Trump all do.

There really isn't a left or right in America anymore - it is the political class against the commoner.

If we do get to the moon it will be because of America's investment in SpaceX leveraged with the private sector and Elon.

Think about it - the greatest joy in spaceflight in the last decade is Elon Musk.  No seriously, right now humanity's best bet is Elon.

Resectfully,
Andrew Gasser

Edit/Lar: Some statements in this post go too far and need to be self moderated. Disagree? Report to mod.

[yg1968]

Although Congress holds the purse strings, the President has an important role in terms of what gets proposed for human space exploration.

Commercial crew got funded by Congress because President Obama proposed funding it. Same thing with Gateway which was proposed by President Obama. Parts of Constellation (Ares I and Altair) got cancelled because President Obama proposed to do so.

HLS and CLPS got funded by Congress because President Trump proposed them.

You can argue that SLS and Orion were originally proposed by President Bush since SLS is essentially another name for Ares V.

What Presidents propose for human space exploration matters.

[Coastal Ron]

What Presidents propose for human space exploration matters.

It does. Look what happened when Congress decided to build the SLS and Orion, and there was no administration plan to use them. $60B economic stimulus, but still no astronauts in space.

America works better when the current administration outlines a "National Imperative" so clearly that Congress agrees to fund it.

Or defund it in the case of the Constellation program, which was killed so that the ISS could continue its science mission, and Commercial Crew could provide an American, redundant, access to LEO.

Congress is responsible for listening to the people though, and remember that returning to the Moon with government employees is the last priority Americans have, not the first. So don't be surprised if a potential Biden Administration doesn't wholeheartedly support that goal.

[Lar]

(mod) We are a non political site. *NEUTRALLY* Presenting what campaigns say is on topic for this thread, because we made an exception.

Analysing them, or saying "the Purples won't fund Space properly" is off topic. Don't make me turn around and delete a bunch of posts. Posts after this one WILL be deleted.

Please self moderate your posts that crossed the line into analysis. If your post got tagged by me, please self reflect. Feel free to remove the tag if you feel you have in good faith edited it to comply.   Lack of a tag doesn't mean you didn't go too far, just that you didn't go *as far* "too far" as others did

PS if you want to know what I think, you all know my real name, it's no secret and you can find my views on Facebook, Twitter, etc. I suggest the rest of you confine yourselves to those venues as well.

[DigitalMan]

What I look for are statements showing conviction. Let them present their view why exploration is important to them (insert your favorite politician) and how the American people will benefit from exploring the Moon and Mars.

Exploration is something that you usually have to fight for to succeed at.

[Coastal Ron]

What I look for are statements showing conviction.

The term "conviction" is not easy to quantify, and it tends to be gauged more by emotion.

Let them present their view why exploration is important to them (insert your favorite politician) and how the American people will benefit from exploring the Moon and Mars.

How the American people benefit is the most important quality to me. As well as how spending money now either avoids spending more money in the future, or makes more money in the future.

Exploration is something that you usually have to fight for to succeed at.

It is important to remember that the Apollo program did not have positive American support until just before the Apollo 11 mission. But Congress was behind the Apollo program, so much that at one point NASA was getting 4% of the Federal Budget. But Congress understood how Apollo fit into the Cold War, so there was a 1:1 explanation for that.

Lacking a true "National Imperative" Congress has to be mindful about not straying too far from what the public wants. That is why, I think, the ISS has solid support, since the public supports science. But as the Pew survey shows, the public is not enamored with space exploration with humans, regardless if its the Moon or Mars. So we'll have to see how that manifests itself with HSF funding...

[yg1968]

https://twitter.com/SonofMars814/status/1678952258095005696

[deadman1204]

https://twitter.com/SonofMars814/status/1678952258095005696

I would ask him to demonstrate what he has actually accomplished for nasa as governor. Its easy to say stuff if you have a nasa presence in your state.

[yg1968]

https://twitter.com/GregWAutry/status/1811174832299815032

Expanding Freedom, Prosperity and Safety in Space

Under Republican Leadership, the United States will create a robust Manufacturing Industry in Near Earth Orbit, send American Astronauts back to the Moon, and onward to Mars, and enhance partnerships with the rapidly expanding Commercial Space sector to revolutionize our ability to access, live in, and develop assets in Space.

https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/2024-republican-party-platform

[Coastal Ron]

{tweet snipped}

Expanding Freedom, Prosperity and Safety in Space

Under Republican Leadership, the United States will create a robust Manufacturing Industry in Near Earth Orbit, send American Astronauts back to the Moon, and onward to Mars, and enhance partnerships with the rapidly expanding Commercial Space sector to revolutionize our ability to access, live in, and develop assets in Space.

https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/2024-republican-party-platform

What the heck does "the United States will create a robust Manufacturing Industry in Near Earth Orbit" mean?

Since the GOP Platform is the Trump platform, has Trump talked about this before? And what is the U.S. Government going to do to stimulate American manufacturing in near Earth orbit (NEO)?

And what is the definition of Near Earth Orbit? There is no reference to it on Wikipedia, ESA, or NASA JPL. Is Trump making up a new word?

[yg1968]

{tweet snipped}

Expanding Freedom, Prosperity and Safety in Space

Under Republican Leadership, the United States will create a robust Manufacturing Industry in Near Earth Orbit, send American Astronauts back to the Moon, and onward to Mars, and enhance partnerships with the rapidly expanding Commercial Space sector to revolutionize our ability to access, live in, and develop assets in Space.

https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/2024-republican-party-platform

What the heck does "the United States will create a robust Manufacturing Industry in Near Earth Orbit" mean?

Since the GOP Platform is the Trump platform, has Trump talked about this before? And what is the U.S. Government going to do to stimulate American manufacturing in near Earth orbit (NEO)?

And what is the definition of Near Earth Orbit? There is no reference to it on Wikipedia, ESA, or NASA JPL. Is Trump making up a new word?

Good questions. I suspect that this is similar to Blue's mission statement:

For the Benefit of Earth

Blue Origin was founded with a vision of millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. Blue Origin envisions a time when people can tap into the limitless resources of space and enable the movement of damaging industries into space to preserve Earth, humanity’s blue origin.

https://www.blueorigin.com/about-blue

In terms of the meaning of Near-Earth Orbit, there is a short Wikipedia page on it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-Earth_orbit

[yg1968]

Space industry considers implications of Harris as presidential candidate:
https://spacenews.com/space-industry-considers-implications-of-harris-as-presidential-candidate/

[yg1968]

During Musk's conversation with Trump of yesterday, Musk mentioned that "there are some grand projects that we (the United States) could do. [...] We could build a base on the Moon and we could send American astronauts to Mars" and Trump then said "right" but that was essentially the extent of their conversation on space.

It's at 1h37m of this video:
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1823498527743598968

[yg1968]

[catdlr]

[Proponent]

SpaceNews: "Republican former NASA administrator endorses Harris for president"

https://spacenews.com/republican-former-nasa-administrator-endorses-harris-for-president/

[yg1968]

The 2024 Democratic Party Platform has just been released but hasn't been updated for Harris. In any event, here is what it says about NASA and the Moon to Mars program:

Under his [Biden] leadership, we’ll continue supporting NASA and America’s presence on the International Space Station, and working to send Americans back to the moon and to Mars.

And we will continue to invest in climate research across NASA, NOAA, the National Science Foundation, and other agencies, to make sure that America leads the world in clean energy innovation.

https://democrats.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/FINAL-MASTER-PLATFORM.pdf

[JH]

VP Harris mentioned supporting space in her DNC acceptance speech tonight. Here is the quote:

“I will make sure that we lead the world into the future on space and artificial intelligence so that America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century.”

[catdlr]

VP Harris mentioned supporting space in her DNC acceptance speech tonight. Here is the quote:

“I will make sure that we lead the world into the future on space and artificial intelligence so that America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century.”

I think much of that "Space" money will be spent on NRO/Space Force projects. IMO.

[catdlr]

Space Policy Edition: The Space Policy of a Second Trump Administration

Sep 6, 2024 
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science

Dr. Greg Autry, who served on Trump’s NASA transition team in 2016 and was nominated for the position of NASA CFO in 2020, joins the show to discuss the space policy issues facing a potential second Trump administration in 2025. We discuss the role of competition versus cooperation in space exploration, how space politics have changed since Trump’s first term, and what major issues at NASA must be faced by the next presidential administration.