Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!ox.com!hela!aws
From: aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: A Space Science letter
Message-ID: <1991Jun18.015002.8090@iti.org>
Date: 18 Jun 91 01:50:02 GMT
References: <1991Jun11.200742.12731@csun.edu> <328@hsvaic.boeing.com> <1991Jun18.001107.16534@sequent.com>
Distribution: na
Organization: Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow
Lines: 38

In article <1991Jun18.001107.16534@sequent.com> szabo@sequent.com writes:

>Congress has to cover a wide range of topics including DoD, DOE,
>Commerce, Agriculture, EPA, etc. etc.  It cannot be expected to understand 
>details of planetary missions, any more than a rocket engineer can be
>expected to be well-versed in tort law.  

Nonsense. Congress has an entire subcommittee devoted to nothing but space.
This includes a dozen or so Congresscritters, their staff, the majority
subcommittee staff, the minority subcommittee staff, and part of the full
committee staff for the majority and minority. In the House the head of the
full committee (Rep. Brown) is very interested in space and devotes
significant time to it. Members may call on one of several research
services to address specific questions. 

This subcommittee (in both houses) set a series of priorities for NASA
funding. These priorities where then endorsed in both houses by a wide
margin.

>It is up to the NASA leadership to 
>provide an intelligent budget and guidance on these issues.

Of the people I talk to none trust NASA further than they could spit a rat.

>On this topic, is there any way for space explorers to transfer
>money "under the covers" to provide the funds where they are needed?

It has already happened. Space explorers in both NASA and the DoE have
scraped together a few million to do the work needed to support a
cost effective human infrastructure. If some new line items survive
in the DoE budget we will see even more.

    Allen
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|Allen W. Sherzer |   DETROIT: Where the weak are killed and eaten.         |
|   aws@iti.org   |                                                         |
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