I am a space geek.

I have no problem admitting that.  I enjoy all things space related.  Pictures, video, hardware, manned, unmanned, orbital mechanics, and on and on.  Not many people know what goes on in space as it doesn't alter their daily lives.  I want everyone to keep in mind that space is our next frontier.

That said NASA is the leader in space in the US and arguably the world.  They currently receive about .5% of the federal budget each year.  Don't get me wrong that IS a lot of money.  Do I think they need more, yes.  Would they be able to do more cool research, yes.  Would some be wasted, yes it is government after all.

At this moment NASA is in the last phases of the STS program.  That is the Space Transportation System.  Most people call it the "shuttle."  They are also nearing completion of the International Space Station.  STS will have its last flight around 2010.  ISS is set to be crashed into the ocean in 2016.  This will be the end of the US manned space program unless NASA gets the replacement off the ground and spinning laps around the globe.

What is being proposed is called Ares.  Ares will be a collection of two rockets.  One little one for people.  And one big one for cargo.  These are supposed to be designed to send us back to the Moon and on to Mars.  I don't have a problem with the two rocket idea.  I think we could save some money by just using one rocket to do both jobs but as long as we get the job done, fine.

Here's my rub.  When NASA said we were going to the Moon and Mars they said we would need 10 pounds of shit to do the job.  If you can't tell I'm generalizing a bit stop reading and go dig a hole and fill it back up.  NASA said we'll send this 10 pounds of shit on this great rocket our administrator designed on a napkin.  Ok, fine.  Now as the engineers actually started designing and testing and modeling and figuring on this napkin rocket a problem arose.  It can't lift 10 pounds of shit.  It can lift 7 pounds of shit.  The solution: is it to make the rocket more powerful or build a different rocket? No, NASA now thinks that it will be OK to do the 10 pound of shit job on 7 pounds of shit.

So what is it NASA?  10 pounds 7 pounds?  If you keep this up even a space geek will get tired of paying for bad decisions.