Bob Zimmerman isn’t impressed with the coverage, to say the least.
13 thoughts on “NASA And The Media”
I guess the media is afraid to question big government spaceflight unless Trump takes ownership of it, or they’re being careful not to relate justifiable reasons that he might cancel SLS, so they can portray such an event as Trump cancelling mankind’s future in space. Plus, SLS went off the tracks long ago so any blame would drag the Obama Administration into the mess.
Regarding the orange spacesuits, I remain opposed. In adult society there is never a good excuse to dress up like a pumpkin. If anyone can point to the case of an astronaut bobbing around in the ocean because nobody could find him, please let me know. Russian astronauts have more reason to wear bright orange because they land in the boonies and could get mistaken for a deer, but they wear pretty conservative white and blue colors despite the risk of ending up mounted on a barbershop wall.
Well the orange spacesuit makes it easier for first responder rescuers to see them. You know, like when the capsule crashes and the helicopters come out to look for them… on the moon. Then again, perhaps not the right color for Mars…
Wouldn’t it make more sense to paint the whole capsule orange and let the astronauts just bob along inside it? Maybe give them one of those EPIRB rescue beacons. How about making the suit white and giving them an orange life jacket to wear if they try to swim to a deserted island?
Maybe include a lime yellow high visibility vest. I do think they’ll need to carefully engineer the whistle. Perhaps a pump like system to blow air through, since they can’t open the helmet and blow. But then hearing with the helmet on will be a problem, so they’ll need to aid a transmitter to the whistle to broadcast the sharp noise to other first responders. That could be another $5 million study right there.
What these three NASA’s press releases plus their overall coverage by the mainstream media reveal is their corrupt partnership to hide important facts from the American people.
This isn’t like the media acting as the Democrat party PR wing. It doesn’t get coverage because it isn’t important to most people, news events are sporadic, and it isn’t entertaining. When it does get coverage, it doesn’t get it in-depth because the same person they hire to cannibalize other people’s content on other topics isn’t equipped to write about NASA.
Writing about NASA takes a specialist and that costs money. Someone who has the expertise to write about NASA isn’t likely to have the expertise to write on other subjects. You get an expensive employee who doesn’t get used often and can’t work outside their lane.
Mainstream media is very general. It isn’t very detailed on any subject. People need to go out of their way to find coverage of the topics that interest them, and that isn’t necessarily bad but Zimmerman is right that the coverage is lacking and people deserve better.
Bob slams his usual suspects, the NY Times, NPR and the Guardian. Is, say, Fox News or WSJ much better on space stories?
Bury the story at the bottom of page 6. Just push out the NASA presser as is, don’t waste time on it, nobody cares.
I’m sure that’s exactly what happens, which is to say it’s capitalism in action: the media are doing what makes money. So, remind me, why is Bob complaining?
Now I’ve seen Scott Manley’s video of the new suits. I see that NASA resistance likes to give Russia love, not just money for spacecraft, but now Russian colored US spacesuits.
Scott’s final comment is perfect: “It will be a fine successor to the Apollo suits. I mean it better be. They’ve only had 50 years to figure out how to make it better.” That is really the sad state of NASA today.
If you pushed an astronaut over in one of the moon suits, I wonder if they have the range of mobility to right themselves or whether they’d be stuck like a turtle on its back?
I guess the media is afraid to question big government spaceflight unless Trump takes ownership of it, or they’re being careful not to relate justifiable reasons that he might cancel SLS, so they can portray such an event as Trump cancelling mankind’s future in space. Plus, SLS went off the tracks long ago so any blame would drag the Obama Administration into the mess.
Regarding the orange spacesuits, I remain opposed. In adult society there is never a good excuse to dress up like a pumpkin. If anyone can point to the case of an astronaut bobbing around in the ocean because nobody could find him, please let me know. Russian astronauts have more reason to wear bright orange because they land in the boonies and could get mistaken for a deer, but they wear pretty conservative white and blue colors despite the risk of ending up mounted on a barbershop wall.
Well the orange spacesuit makes it easier for first responder rescuers to see them. You know, like when the capsule crashes and the helicopters come out to look for them… on the moon. Then again, perhaps not the right color for Mars…
Wouldn’t it make more sense to paint the whole capsule orange and let the astronauts just bob along inside it? Maybe give them one of those EPIRB rescue beacons. How about making the suit white and giving them an orange life jacket to wear if they try to swim to a deserted island?
On horseback?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWphqA1Slrw&feature=youtu.be
Maybe include a lime yellow high visibility vest. I do think they’ll need to carefully engineer the whistle. Perhaps a pump like system to blow air through, since they can’t open the helmet and blow. But then hearing with the helmet on will be a problem, so they’ll need to aid a transmitter to the whistle to broadcast the sharp noise to other first responders. That could be another $5 million study right there.
This isn’t like the media acting as the Democrat party PR wing. It doesn’t get coverage because it isn’t important to most people, news events are sporadic, and it isn’t entertaining. When it does get coverage, it doesn’t get it in-depth because the same person they hire to cannibalize other people’s content on other topics isn’t equipped to write about NASA.
Writing about NASA takes a specialist and that costs money. Someone who has the expertise to write about NASA isn’t likely to have the expertise to write on other subjects. You get an expensive employee who doesn’t get used often and can’t work outside their lane.
Mainstream media is very general. It isn’t very detailed on any subject. People need to go out of their way to find coverage of the topics that interest them, and that isn’t necessarily bad but Zimmerman is right that the coverage is lacking and people deserve better.
Bob slams his usual suspects, the NY Times, NPR and the Guardian. Is, say, Fox News or WSJ much better on space stories?
Bury the story at the bottom of page 6. Just push out the NASA presser as is, don’t waste time on it, nobody cares.
I’m sure that’s exactly what happens, which is to say it’s capitalism in action: the media are doing what makes money. So, remind me, why is Bob complaining?
Now I’ve seen Scott Manley’s video of the new suits. I see that NASA resistance likes to give Russia love, not just money for spacecraft, but now Russian colored US spacesuits.
Scott’s final comment is perfect: “It will be a fine successor to the Apollo suits. I mean it better be. They’ve only had 50 years to figure out how to make it better.” That is really the sad state of NASA today.
If you pushed an astronaut over in one of the moon suits, I wonder if they have the range of mobility to right themselves or whether they’d be stuck like a turtle on its back?
Damn! Where’s Solyndra when you need them?!