Lampson wants a bloated ineffective NASA, not one that empowers industry to build our economy instead of drain it.

space reform ping

This guy should work to get billions siphoned from the education budget and put it into NASA.

The space budget is minuscule compared to everything else.

So you want someone else’s ox gored instead of your favorite pork?

Government waste is waste period and should all be reduced as much as we can. I am certain that Congressman Culberson is working to reduce waste in other areas of government including the Dept. of Education.

If NASA was as effective as they claim to be, we would have regularly scheduled flights into space and have off-Earth resources and products being shipped back to Earth with a net plus in tax payments derived from that activity verses the amount of tax money spent on it.

If you can’t imagine this as a plausible scenario, then why are you defending NASA? NASA has had 40 years to regularize spaceflight as a private sector industry. But as long as people like you demand it remain on the plantation of government bureaucracy and waste, we are just flushing tax dollars down the drain like the worst other agency like DoEd.

Houston PING

Well said,
NASA is a bloated ineffective beauracracy. While it was in its early years very inventive, it has become less so as it became more fearful.

I’d be happy if they just fired James Hansen.

They should start with Hansen’s GISS. This one agency has cost the world more wasted effort and cash through its global warming hoax than any other government agency in history.

"NASA needs complete freedom to hire and fire based on performance, it needs to be driven by the scientists and the engineers, and it needs to be free of politics as much as possible."

If only....

Don’t be so critical of Culbertson. These GOPers have to find something to run on besides queers and mexicans.

I've always believed that NASA in its current bureaucratic form should be abolished, and its assets and mission turned over to the U.S. Navy, so that it can build this:

I don’t know much about the private space industry, but the first mass amounts of people probably heard of it was a couple of years ago. Kinda hard to explore that when the only group “allowed” to do space stuff is a government agency. Putting people on the moon, sending probes out to other planets isn’t really an easy thing to do. If it burns up, it’s a few hundred million dollar satellite/probe, or worse, a crew of people. I would assume safety is paramount.

I do agree that wasteful spending should be eliminated, along with every other bloated agency, including the Dept. of Education.

I wouldn’t know how the FAA would change, but making it more efficient, while making them the first in line responsible for private space companies sounds like a start. The FAA could have a section that deals exclusively with NASA, probably just a handful of people.

Two terms, materials science and space elevators. Use the rockets and work on the next step in space access. Just my opinion.

The FAA already has a commercial space division which regulates the emerging private spaceflight industry. You can look it up on their website if you like.