THESE PHOTOS PISS ME OFF...but not for the reasons you'd expect. NASA finally completed the assembly of the
Ares I-X rocket yesterday...making it the first new launch vehicle to reside inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center in almost 30 years. Unfortunately, thanks to a series of delays, including that caused by the
Hubble Servicing Mission...which was scheduled to launch in May of last year but didn’t get off the ground
till this year, and the results of the Obama-appointed Augustine committee
(which will most likely recommend to the president that the Ares I program be scrapped),
Ares I-X might never fly. Or it WILL fly...but it will be nothing more than a publicity stunt since the launch vehicle that it is a prototype for will most likely be cancelled
(Hell... It's as much a waste of money assembling Ares I-X without launching it as it is flying the vehicle as nothing more than a "glorified model rocket". Just launch the damn thing).
*Sigh.* Screw you Congress, for not giving NASA the money it needs to send astronauts beyond Low-Earth Orbit once more. And screw you Obama...for not having any vision for our space program, and relying on some presidential panel to give you an inkling of an idea for what direction NASA should take. F**K THAT.
NASA / Dimitri Gerondidakis
Gary Rothstein / EPA
PHOTOS OF THE DAY... The launch of space shuttle Discovery was scrubbed for the second straight day, but oh well. When was the last time a shuttle launched on time? Um... 2007? Anyways, these three photos were taken during Discovery’s previous liftoff attempt yesterday. Meteorologists at NASA's Kennedy Space Center predicted an 80% chance of acceptable launch weather conditions for last night.
...
Needless to say, those meteorologists need a deduction in pay. That is all.
Justin Deniere / EPA
NASA / Ben Cooper
