DEI in space ... come on, one has to come out of the closet to make it complete, and if that one is a handicap person, win win.

They can't even rescue the crew from ISS, and people think they'll be going to the moon

Anyone else think the spy agencies are running out of funds ? NASA ... what a scam.

1 hour ago, Kinnock said:

I'll remember that one next time I mess up at work .... or does this excuse only apply to rocket scientists?

That's a really poor comparison. Messing something up at work is probably avoidable and not likely to be catastrophic. Failure of advanced rocket technology is inevitable when you're pushing the limits of engineering and science.

1 minute ago, JensenZ said:

That's a really poor comparison. Messing something up at work is probably avoidable and not likely to be catastrophic. Failure of advanced rocket technology is inevitable when you're pushing the limits of engineering and science.

But look at the resources available for rocket technology compared to 'normal' work. They really should be setting an example for excellent planning rather than "oh well, we'll try better next time".

And failure in normal work can be more serious. Not many MIT grads and PhD's working on Rama 2 or the new overhead rail link, and their mistakes were pretty catastrophic.

Modern rocketry has been a thing since WW2 and the failure rate for what should be developed technology is just embarrassing.

...Abominable....

...60 Million Dollars A Day Not Enough For This 'Charade Of An Industry'...(?)

...Poor, Hapless Humanity Still Lapping These Fables Up...(?)

6 hours ago, JensenZ said:

They learn more from failures than they do from successes. It's all a necessary part of progress.

Seems not to be working too well on Rama II.

On 1/19/2026 at 8:24 AM, Sydebolle said:

Given the details, apart from genderism and racial aspects, what else is new? Is NASA on a mission to find out, if the moon is still there after 50 years? Just wondering who pays for all this space odyseeing.

I assume it does not touch the US' "defense budget" of USD 892 billion. The goods in funny uniforms got talked down from their daydreaming of $961.6 billion for 2026! Well, it guess that this is OK as the Caracas excursion kidnapping a foreign head of state in the latter's capital came much cheaper than feared. No American life lost and only one wounded, nobody has to account for the dozens of Venezuelan and Cuban soldiers who lost their lives in the overnight visit.

Not being a French, but their "on vera" attitude might be the appropriate behaviour at the moment ;-)

... spellchecker correction, 2nd paragraph 1st row to read ..... The gooNs in funny .... and not the goods ....

On 1/19/2026 at 8:41 AM, bunnydrops said:

We haven't sent a President up yet!

Don't go there, if you include politicians then you need a space ark of the proportion of the biggest aircraft carrier - at least ;-)

On 1/19/2026 at 8:45 AM, Hummin said:

The importance of the gender and racial aspects is to create heroes for those groups and inspire the future generations scientists and astronauts. But thats a long shot to convince some old men at a Asian forum :D

But for kids, heroes they can identify themselves with, is critical and essential important. So what you find ridiculous is of value for others, and especially USA where the education level seems to make a huge future drop as it stands right now compared to other leading countries.

What was our generation heroes who made us who we are today?

Being non-American the word of racism and colour-segregation is completely unknown to most Europeans. The same applies to genders, as known being male and female.
For any job, be it space travel, politics, teaching etc. the best possible (qualified) candidate should get appointed to do the job irrespective of all that nonsense of the 79+ genders.
As far as genders are concerned, Mother Nature has evolved - over 4+ billion years, into what it always was being two genders. Everything else is a mental imagination with zero impact on space exploration.

Or do you think that an impersonation of a dog, penguin or cockatoo should be given preference over the fact, that (s)he is considering being a dog, penguin or cockatoo? What happens, if an average qualified astronaut shows up in the firm belief being a John Deere tractor? Just asking ;-)

8 minutes ago, Sydebolle said:

Being non-American the word of racism and colour-segregation is completely unknown to most Europeans. The same applies to genders, as known being male and female.
For any job, be it space travel, politics, teaching etc. the best possible (qualified) candidate should get appointed to do the job irrespective of all that nonsense of the 79+ genders.
As far as genders are concerned, Mother Nature has evolved - over 4+ billion years, into what it always was being two genders. Everything else is a mental imagination with zero impact on space exploration.

Or do you think that an impersonation of a dog, penguin or cockatoo should be given preference over the fact, that (s)he is considering being a dog, penguin or cockatoo? What happens, if an average qualified astronaut shows up in the firm belief being a John Deere tractor? Just asking ;-)

This is ridiculous reasoning!

Do you doubt their qualifications for this mission?

Just think of how this inspires thousands of young girls and afro Americans or colored people to study hard to achieve their dreams? A society loses valuable resources of they stereo type people for certain work positions or sports!

21 hours ago, Hummin said:

This is ridiculous reasoning!

Do you doubt their qualifications for this mission?

Just think of how this inspires thousands of young girls and afro Americans or colored people to study hard to achieve their dreams? A society loses valuable resources of they stereo type people for certain work positions or sports!

No, I am certainly not qualified to qualify the mission or its participants. My point however was a completely different one; read my original posting. It was about the goals of this mission which should be much more than just to find out, if the moon is still there after 50 years?

Given your words I could conclude however that the thousands of young men and all other American-Amercians should stand back to give the "segregated members of society" a chance? Equal nonsense of course but the genders and ethnic race cannot be the overpowering reason behind such odyseeys - or am I wrong here as well?

5 minutes ago, Sydebolle said:

No, I am certainly not qualified to qualify the mission or its participants. My point however was a completely different one; read my original posting. It was about the goals of this mission which should be much more than just to find out, if the moon is still there after 50 years?

Given your words I could conclude however that the thousands of young men and all other American-Amercians should stand back to give the "segregated members of society" a chance? Equal nonsense of course but the genders and ethnic race cannot be the overpowering reason behind such odyseeys - or am I wrong here as well?

My point of view is, there is as many talents among for example afro Americans as there is among white people, but because of their colour and background had less chances to succeed. However I agree lesser talants shouldn’t be promoted if there is better, but then, we have seen segration have killed many talents before.

For an instance how many black people worked on the moon landing project and one stands out ? And she didn’t get her award and recognition as she should or if she was white did she?

Katherine Johnson was a brilliant NASA mathematician known for her crucial hand-calculated orbital mechanics, essential for early U.S. spaceflights, including Mercury and Apollo missions, but gained widespread fame later through Hidden Figures (book/movie). She received significant recognition, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2015), a NASA facility named in her honor (2016), and a Congressional Gold Medal (2019), acknowledging her groundbreaking contributions overcoming racial and gender discrimination. 

On 1/19/2026 at 8:41 PM, Hummin said:

This is ridiculous reasoning!

Do you doubt their qualifications for this mission?

Just think of how this inspires thousands of young girls and afro Americans or colored people to study hard to achieve their dreams? A society loses valuable resources of they stereo type people for certain work positions or sports!

Colored people? Really? 555

On 1/19/2026 at 12:26 AM, NoDisplayName said:

NASA is obsolete.

Here's what an African-American immigrant rocket scientist and brain surgeon can do....

Sorry, but ..

LOL

Can't land on a light in the sky.

Who is the Director for this sequel?

Replacing Stanley Kubrick will be challenging.

Maybe Denis Villeneuve?

On 1/18/2026 at 12:05 PM, JensenZ said:

It was a great report until they had to spoil it by mentioning the first woman and the first person of colour. People can't just be people.

And did someone with better qualifications have to step back so they could tick all the right boxes?