I’m here today to tell you that indeed, yes, we found water. And we didn’t find just a little bit; we found a significant amount.
NASA scientist Anthony Colaprete • Describing the excitement caused by the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, which crashed into the moon last month with the specific purpose of finding water. And oh boy, it found a lot of it: A dozen two-gallon buckets of water. This is promising for many reasons, including the fact that this makes a lunar space station seem possible. We just made a ton of nerds’ days with this news. • source
Guy Laliberte spent $35 million to get a unique view of space while wearing a clown’s nose the entire time. Billionaires who start Cirque du Soleil can do that.
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They’re sure running with this joke. (Sorry.) As you might remember, a few months back, Stephen Colbert attempted to win a contest to get a part of the International Space Station named after him. He won, but NASA chose to name this treadmill after him instead. Which, is still incredibly awesome. Admit it.source
This is probably just a perception, but I just have the feeling that the glaciers are melting, the snow capping the mountains is less than it was 12 years ago when I saw it last time. That saddens me a little bit.
Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk • Describing his view of the planet Earth from space, and comparing it to a previous mission 12 years ago. Thirsk is kinda subtle with his words here, but it appears he’s saying that global warming is real. Uh, what would make you think that? • source
We know what we got from the interstate highway system—fast, easy transportation, the creation of the suburbs, an entire transformation of our way of life. What did we get economically from the space program, especially the manned portion? Much, much less.
BusinessWeek chief economist Michael Mandel • Pointing out the very low cost-benefit ratio of our space program. We’re not sure if financial benefit should be the only consideration of something like NASA, but points out that, with inflation considered, we spent $176 billion on NASA during the height of the space race era, 1962-1972. Comparatively, we spent $220 billion on highways during that same period. Like we said, not sure we agree, but something to consider. • source
By refocusing our space program on Mars for America’s future, we can restore the sense of wonder and adventure in space exploration that we knew in the summer of 1969. We won the moon race; now it’s time for us to live and work on Mars, first on its moons and then on its surface.
Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin (i.e. the second man to set foot on the moon) • On the possibility that the next step for the space program is heading to Mars. He thinks it would be a shot in the arm for NASA. Why the heck not? We’re sure Marvin would be a gracious host! • source