the space program seems to have run into a little bit of a snag funding wise anyway they've decided the space station's not may not be worth it and uh they're going to fight over that for a few years it seems
and uh just the idea of flight uh the shuttle system and what they thought they could do and what they're ending up doing and
the complexity and the seeming uh number of errors and breakdowns and problems they're having with it uh it may not be
common thing all too soon and even if they ever do get it common uh or get it to where you know the a large percentage or even a
a one to two percent of of a given nation ends up in space for for some reason or another um
they haven't solved and i don't know if they can solve the problem that weightlessness has extended weightlessness has on the human body i mean
right
we can do all we want as far as technology goes but if a human can't stand to be up there then what good does is it to have the station that for extended stays if you can't stand an extended stay
right
so i don't know if uh if all the monies that are being spent on it uh
really should be spent with the idea of uh or with the goal of of the space station or of claiming a sector of space or having defense out in space
i don't mind spending the money from the standpoint of uh basically government funded uh research and development and you know it's tends to create jobs our our economy
tends to be uh based on a lot of a lot of that lately of course it really wreaks havoc with the economy when the government decides to shut down things like bases and and uh
like Carswell and things of that nature
right
so what do you think about the the uh whole space program as it were
uh well i'm
i'm kind of with you they've they've definitely run into some problems and i think it's
it's some it's it's due to their own shortsightedness uh perhaps the trying to do
too much too quickly uh and you know they take take some
i think that they thought thought that they were going to get a lot more done quickly than they then they really did they didn't think out all of the
the variables that uh that might
crop up and then they've been hit with a lot of those uh a lot of i think they've had a lot of poorer management poor management here in the past uh several years no no clearly defined goals uh
uh a
and and goals that are that were obtainable you know they they they needed to look at the long long range picture i think that that
um-hum
uh the Soviets have have done a better job of that you know they they were very uh
they were limited so much in their technology and but they because of that they they tended to say what we're going to do what we do
and continue to do it and do it over the long haul and so that's what they've done and they've
they've uh you know they they've had a man in space in space for you know a quite a long time you know in in in
in the different space stations that they've had and uh so that that you know that's been good for them they've learned a lot and they've they've made some achievements in in that respect but they've they've been
right
doing it very slowly and very long range you know
um-hum
and we haven't done that we tend to to look at uh a big uh
a big project that we like to to have done you know you know do the shuttle thing and and and have it as a you know a space transport system
you know up in the next ten years and you can't do that you know i mean it's just not
not feasible feasible but you know the Americans uh American publics doesn't like to sit back and wait
you know ten years for something to get developed and and put up
with with especially with funding the way it is yeah
right
uh i uh i think there are definite benefits from from the from
the process of of creating space projects you know we you know we've seen that in terms of computers and and the the myriad of different uh
technological advances but
uh like you say you have to kind of weigh that as to what is it worth in the long you know for for the overall uh picture uh how much we willing to to put out for
to have Teflon on our on our our cooking pans and
right
you know you really don't want the economy to or the space program to become a too large percentage of the economy
so that when something catastrophe some catastrophe does occur and it does have to be curtailed you you don't gut the economy sort of like the defense industry problem has has occurred uh as as needs changed in the defense world then
right
you go and cut back on your spending and it cripples whole sections of the nation as it were with the lack of jobs and lack of whatever else
you do that with the space program and now as complex and as many different directions as they're being tugged with technology uh they want to be so big that if we ever did allow that um
uh we're liable to be in the same boat and once these contracts are finished or if the space
pra platform disintegrated for whatever reason uh maybe there'd be that many thousands of jobs that were supplying prats you know parts to that that weren't there anymore you'd have to go back to the jobs that needed to
right
right
be there when that was being created instead of being sustained and you know you you can't have uh a quarter of the economy resting on one little project up there
so it it gets kind of complicated when you start talking getting that big plus you get so many different directions uh
not being limited by technology here in the US but being limited by the whims of changing funding
uh it needs even that much more or or better management from uh the NASA people to keep a clear goal and a relatively a reasonable one in sight as it were
right
so i don't know it's a it's a complex issue but
you know i i mean i would love to see you know big things like that happen i mean i've you know i've i went through the entire and i grew up in that early sixties you know big big boom of
um-hum
of uh you know all those Mercury and Gemini and uh Apollo shots and and and was real caught up in that and would love to see something
big happen you know i'd like to see that that occur but you like you say it's it's a it is it is a drain and you don't it would cost
an enormous amount of money to put that up yeah put something up like a space station that would work and really really be beneficial for us and uh i don't i don't know it's if it's worth it
well they keep talking about uh the space station the biggest thing they want to do up there is is test out different manufacturing techniques uh in weightlessness but are these i i never could quite figure out whether these techniques were something that could be done
yeah
uh uh simulated or we learn enough about it to do it down here on earth or are we talking about having to build some sort of a station that is going to produce these products and how much could you really produce in a lab up there
uh i don't i don't really guess i understand what they're going to do unless they're going to turn out product from that
