Main Article: Should Obama send an African-American to the Moon?
Today's Poll: Meritocracy or diversity. Should NASA's Return to the moon include African Americans and women? Our Monthy Tracking Poll on Diversity.
Star Trek News: New Remastered DVD.
More then once, during the Presidential campaign, I commented on the Daily Kos on the absolute stunning difference you saw at the various stops made by Obama-Biden and McCain-Palin. In every picture, from both campaigns, you saw a sea of white faces. So what was the difference? It was what you DIDN't see at McCain-Palin rallys that was so striking. An almost total absence of any Americans with any kind of a "tan". It was like there were two different Americas. With two different kinds of Americans.
My comments about this difference brought shouts of agreement like: "the real America" or "This is how the true America looks". And I had to agree with them. Obama and the Progressive Democrats did reflect a broader verison of what the America of today looks like and wanted to be represented.
Barack Obama has broken ONE kind of glass ceiling. He is the first African American to reach the high office of the President of the United States of America. That is one remarkable achievement.
But there is another HIGHER ceiling, this one is not made of glass though. It is made up of the stars. No African American has even scaled the highest "glass ceiling" that America has to offer.
No African American of woman has ever traveled to the moon.
THere isn't any class room pictures of America's Astronauts, that traveled to the Moon, who are African American.
That truely is the last glass ceiling.
America's current space policy is centered around President Bush's 2004 speech about the "Vison for Space Exploration" or VSE. This speech broke with a tradition that has been in place since 1972 and the last Apollo mission. NASA was to reset the sails and finally, after a long absence, sail out of low Earth Orbit (LEO). Good bye Space Shuttle, and good bye International Space Station (ISS)).
The Space Transportatioon System (STS) or Space Shuttle was to complete the International Space Station by 2010 and when finished, the shuttle is to retire by the end of 2010. There are some doubts remaining if the Shuttle can complete this task by that deadline.
After completion of the station and shuttle retirement, NASA was to build a new system for returning to the moon. That new system is call the Constellation. It consists of five basic parts:
The Ares I rocket that lifts the Orion spacecraft. The Orion ( crew exploration vehicle)is the capsule that will take the 4 "man" crew to the Moon. ( No American Woman has ever broken the Lunar Glass Ceiling either)
Ares V heavy launch vehicle (HLV), it lifts the Altair Lunar lander to LEO, docks with the Orion spacecraft.
Earth Departure Stage or EDS::
"During launch of an Ares V, the reusable solid rocket boosters and core propulsion stage power the vehicle into low-Earth orbit. After separation from the spent core stage, the Earth departure stage's J-2X engine takes over, placing the vehicle in a circular orbit, and the departure stage shroud separates to prepare the lander for rendezvous with the Orion capsule.
Orion carrying four astronauts is delivered to space separately by the Ares I rocket. Orion then docks with the orbiting departure stage and its lunar lander payload. Once mated, the Earth departure stage fires its J-2X engine a second time to achieve "escape velocity," the speed necessary to break free of Earth's gravity, and the lunar vessel begins its journey to the moon.
The Earth departure stage is jettisoned after it puts the mated Orion capsule and Altair lander on course for the moon. Once the astronauts arrive in lunar orbit, they transfer to the lunar module and descend to the moon’s surface. Orion remains in orbit until the astronauts depart from the moon in the lunar vessel, rendezvous with the spacecraft in orbit and return to Earth."
"If this capsule history of our progress teaches us anything, it is that man, in his quest for knowledge and progress, is determined and cannot be deterred. The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or not, and it is one of the great adventures of all time, and no nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space." President John F. Kennedy
Congress showed strong bipartisan support for finally allowing American Astronauts to get back to the business of exploring space. They voted for a return to the moon.
So this brings up my question. If President-Elect Obama is President when it is time to return to the moon, should he make sure the crew is a TAD more reflective of modern America?
If you think He should then click the TOP poll option. If you do not want President - Elect sending ANYONE to the moon click no.
If you think Astronmauts should be picked by total merit, pick that.
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Star Trek: In the News.
DVD Review: Star Trek - The Original Series: Season Three Remastered
"Several times in the Star Trek - The Original Series: Season Three Remastered featurettes, the interviewees mention that the third season exists mainly because the fans demanded it, and not because the studio executives thought they could make any money off of it. The show was moved from Monday night prime-time to late Friday night, facing certain death in that time slot. Producer Gene Roddenberry had left the show in all but name by the third season, mainly over a dispute with the network, and most of the writing staff departed with him. The season was plagued with some of the most infamous episodes in the entire series (i.e. "Spock's Brain" or "Turnabout Intruder")."
Today's Poll:
Meritocracy or Diversity: You make the call.