Bush Reveals New Space Policy

Josh Fink writes "Space.com is reporting that President Bush has unveiled his new space policy. From the article: 'U.S. assets must be unhindered in carrying out their space duties,' the Bush space policy says, stressing that 'freedom of action in space is as important to the United States as air power and sea power.'... As a civil space guideline, the policy calls upon NASA to 'execute a sustained and affordable human and robotic program of space exploration and develop, acquire, and use civil space systems to advance fundamental scientific knowledge of our Earth system, solar system, and universe.' While this policy does seem to push for more civil involvement in space for exploration and research, the article does go on to say, 'The policy calls upon the Secretary of Defense to "develop capabilities, plans, and options to ensure freedom of action in space, and, if directed, deny such freedom of action to adversaries."' So it will push into the intelligence community, and will supercede a similar policy from 1996. You can read the entire policy."

Further proof...

[xENoLocO]

...that Bush is, in fact, a space cadet.

(Oh come on you knew it was coming)

Trust Bush

[Doc Ruby]

I'm glad Bush proved he can be trusted with our space program. He perfected the Space Shuttle (by grounding it for years, now headed for termination). He put an American on Mars, just like his father promised when in political trouble a decade and a half ago. He's making sure other countries don't take American nuclear expansion as a signal to proliferate their own nukes, like in N Korea, Iran, India.

Yes, by all means trust this sober, reasonable man of science with an expensive program to put nukes in space. After he rebuilt New Orleans around the Space Shuttle fueltank factory, everyone there will gladly tell us that he can do anything he sets his mind to.

I have a plan

[Mayhem178]

Here's my plan. Let's leave the planet in two groups, split by who can get along with each other. One of us will go and form the 12 Colonies and be prosperous. The other will disappear into legend and create the 13th Colony. Sound good to everyone? I think I'll go with the 12 Colonies group.

And by the way, I've got this great idea for a cybernetic AI construct to make our lives in the Colonies easier.....

SecDef -- great

[dubiousdave]

"The policy calls upon the Secretary of Defense to..."

Great. I think I can imagine Rummy's plans to improve space exploration. He'll take NASA's crew recommendations and cut them in half, send only enough fuel to get there, but not back, and ditch all the unnecessaries like food and water. It will be a leaner, more mobile space force.

Re:Nuclear Propulsion

[Anonymous Coward]

"Can you say, "Nuclear Space Drive"? :D"

Sure I can, but I'm not sure the President can manage it.

Re:I do find it quite amazing

[QuickFox]

there may be some method to Bush's seeming madness

Come on, try to be be realistic.

Re:Nuclear Propulsion

[Doc Ruby]

Yes, a starship that will greet us as liberators, throwing flowers.

"No one could have anticipated that the nuclear spaceship would kill hundreds of thousands of people" - Bush's 2009 "Emergency Reinauguration Speech"

Coming Soon: Department of Homeworld Security

[patmandu]

Naturally you won't be able to bring lip gloss, toothpaste, or any other gel or liquid into outer space. Or shoes.

Re:SecDef -- great

[Anonymous Coward]

you go to space with the air you have, not the air you would like to have?

Space initiative?

[PixelScuba]

Wow, it must be election year again.

Re:Nuclear Propulsion

[SuperKendall]

So tell me what problems have we fixed???
1)Iraq now a stable democratic country - Mission Accomplished!

For the Kurdish part of Iraq, yes - a huge leap in progress considering they were being snuffed out like candles before.

For the rest of Iraq. progress is slower but yes, they do have a democracy and in ten years or so might be as stable as what the kurdish part has today.

2)Iraq's utilities all restored- power, water, etc. for all - Mission Accomplished!

Above pre-war levels now.

3)Stable Iraq leads to entire stable middle east - Mission Accomplished!

It hasn't made things worse.

4)Not causing more fundamentalist Muslims to hate the US - Mission Accomplished!

The same ones that always hated us. Pretending to like them doesn't mean they would hate us less. At least now they hate us beign over there instead of attacking us in the US for no reason.

5)Being greeted with open arms as "liberators" - Mission Accomplished!

For many Iraqi's, yes that is the case.

6)Taking out the immediate threat of annhiliation due to WMDs - Mission Accomplished!

From pre-war Iraq, yes. Otherwise chat with the UN about problems in that regard. They've done so well fixing up Darfur after years of genocide, I'm sure they can handle WMD issues with ease.

Re:Nuclear Propulsion

[Mister Whirly]

I believe you may mean "Non sequitur" - unless "Non sequiter" means - "I don't understand this myself, so it must be wrong!"

Re:Nuclear Propulsion

[elrous0]

I'd be willing to bet $10 he couldn't pronounce it, $1,000 he couldn't describe it, and $1,000,000 that nothing will ever come of it anyway.

-Eric