It’s not really news, but the latest Orion manifest update shows how pitifully little we’re getting for the many billions of taxpayer dollars that this program will cost. Two flights per year at four astronauts per flight. The Shuttle can carry seven. so it can carry almost as many in a single flight as the Orion will carry in a year.
I’d be willing to be that the program cost in that time period will be (at a minimum) on the order of a couple billion per annum. So that means that each ride will be costing us a quarter of a billion dollars. That’s each ticket, not each flight. And that doesn’t include any amortization of the development costs of either the vehicle itself, or the new launcher. And they told us that Shuttle cost too much.
It also highlights my point about too many astronauts and too few flight slots. If this is the best we can do, then we really should give up on a federal manned space program.
1. An end to one-way multiculturalism and to the cultural masochism that goes with it. The Koran does not mandate the wearing of veils or genital mutilation, and until recently only those who apostasized from Islam faced the threat of punishment by death. Now, though, all manner of antisocial practices find themselves validated in the name of religion, and mullahs have begun to issue threats even against non-Muslims for criticism of Islam. This creeping Islamism must cease at once, and those responsible must feel the full weight of the law. Meanwhile, we should insist on reciprocity at all times. We should not allow a single Saudi dollar to pay for propaganda within the U.S., for example, until Saudi Arabia also permits Jewish and Christian and secular practices. No Wahhabi-printed Korans anywhere in our prison system. No Salafist imams in our armed forces.
2. A strong, open alliance with India on all fronts, from the military to the political and economic, backed by an extensive cultural exchange program, to demonstrate solidarity with the other great multiethnic democracy under attack from Muslim fascism. A hugely enlarged quota for qualified Indian immigrants and a reduction in quotas from Pakistan and other nations where fundamentalism dominates.
I previously speculated that Elizabeth Edwards might have been behind the hiring of the foul-mouthed anti-Christer bloggers. William Beutler thinks that theory “more than plausible.”
I previously speculated that Elizabeth Edwards might have been behind the hiring of the foul-mouthed anti-Christer bloggers. William Beutler thinks that theory “more than plausible.”
I previously speculated that Elizabeth Edwards might have been behind the hiring of the foul-mouthed anti-Christer bloggers. William Beutler thinks that theory “more than plausible.”
Iowahawk has penned a new musical. A comedy, natch, but not one for the kids.
[Evening update]
The ‘Hawk just can’t leave Amanda alone. Now he has her updated resume. Not to mention a photo essay of a frigid Wisconsin road trip and a rave review (presumably with tongue firmly planted in cheek) of the new Fox News comedy show.
useful, if