Obama directs NASA to Improve Relations with the Muslim World

his job is to follow up on orders from his boss. and i guess you wouldn't take their money? space exploration is a very costly venture. that's what this is all about. that, and trying to improve the U.S. standing in the world. old W made a lot of enemies in 8 years

Considering NASA's budget there is hardly any cost associated with having NASA folks give lectures at Middle Easter universities or give tours of NASA projects and facilities. There's also the fact that we already do this sort of thing.


Try again because you've failed.

Fear-mongering. Ok, then what type of rockets have the people in the middle east been experimenting with/on? How about its also not his job as head of NASA.

Whether you like it or not they're going to build them, it's just a matter of time and you can't cheat time. I believe Pakistan and Iran have ones that can certainly reach Israel and they will probably have ones that can reach USA within ten years.

You can send NASA now or you can send 140K troops in 10 or 20 years...what do you want to do?

That's my issue, as much as I have one, with it, not the "fear-mongering". IF NASA has a purposeful existence, it should be focused on practical application of engineering breakthroughs in order to achieve greater use of space for peaceful uses. Examples could include establishing moon based farming colonies, and the technologies which enable transferring people and goods to space based colonies. A good example of what it should not include is fostering international interest in math and science. We have several other departments and bureacracies whose funding is for the encouragement and development of educational awareness both nationally and internationally.

Ok, that's an argument I can respect. I mean, look I've got relatives that work for NASA who have been told they will be let go in a couple of months because of the changes in NASA's overall philosophy. For their sake, I'm not thrilled about all this.

However, I think the first step to finding breakthroughs in order to achieve greater use of space is to engage the international community.

his job is to follow up on orders from his boss. and i guess you wouldn't take their money? space exploration is a very costly venture. that's what this is all about. that, and trying to improve the U.S. standing in the world. old W made a lot of enemies in 8 years

Yea blame W for his dumb ass actions. I guess its the only way to explain the dumb shit he does. This dude builds rockets not relations with other nations thats Hilliary Clinton's job but I guess this is a little more confusing then running some neighbor hood program.

Whether you like it or not they're going to build them, it's just a matter of time and you can't cheat time. I believe Pakistan and Iran have ones that can certainly reach Israel and they will probably have ones that can reach USA within ten years.

You can send NASA now or you can send 140K troops in 10 or 20 years...what do you want to do?

I'm sure by his visit they will stop dreaming of blowing us up and start dreaming about going to the moon. I know we can't stop them but we sure as hell don't need to help them.

Notice something?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/Seal_Of_The_President_Of_The_Unites_States_Of_Amer ica.svg/500px-Seal_Of_The_President_Of_The_Unites_States_Of_Amer ica.svg.png

Fear-mongering. Ok, then what type of rockets have the people in the middle east been experimenting with/on? How about its also not his job as head of NASA.

Joint Saudi-Indian space research planned - Arab News (http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article78663.ece)

Qatar's Space Program: Qatar, The Peace Maker in The Middle East (http://qatar-space.blogspot.com/2010/02/qatar-peace-maker-in-middle-east.html)

Turkey’s first domestic satellite to be launched next year (http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-186560-101-turkeys-first-domestic-satellite-to-be-launched-next-year.html)

But you're right, all they care about is launching rockets at Israel and the US

Notice something?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/Seal_Of_The_President_Of_The_Unites_States_Of_Amer ica.svg/500px-Seal_Of_The_President_Of_The_Unites_States_Of_Amer ica.svg.png

I don't know. All I see is an olive branch

Notice something?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/Seal_Of_The_President_Of_The_Unites_States_Of_Amer ica.svg/500px-Seal_Of_The_President_Of_The_Unites_States_Of_Amer ica.svg.png
I just see a bunch of arrows. J/K

From wiki:
The olive branch and arrows denote the powers of peace and war. The eagle faces towards the right to show a preference to peace over war.

However peace/war, middle east bombs, etc. isn't the point. The point is this type of outreach and diplomacy isn't and should never be NASA's primary function. Nothing wrong with attempting to work with friendly nations when possible, but Bolden stated this was a primary focus given to him directly by the POTUS. Even the WH backed off Bolden's statement because they know it looks bad under scrutiny.

That being said, what would the outrage have been on CNN, ABC, NBC, MSNBC etc. if the NASA Administrator under Bush had come out and said as one of his primary directives was "(Bush) wanted me to find a way to reach out to the (Christian/Jewish) world and engage much more with dominantly (Christian/Jewish) nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science ... and math and engineering."