Trump has sort of revived the National Space Council — oddly, because no one from NASA attended the announcement, Trump hasn’t even appointed any NASA administrators, and we still don’t have a staffed Office of Science and Technology Policy, but hey, Mike Pence is now in charge of “space”. Pence? Why?
The only good thing about this event was Buzz Aldrin’s facial expressions as Trump bumbled through the speech.
"One day we will look back and say how did we do it without space?"
-Donald Trump #makespacegreatagain? 🤷🏼♂️— Danny McGinnis (@Ginnis20) July 1, 2017
The transcript is something else.
So, I just want to tell you that we are now going to sign an executive order, and this is going to launch a whole new chapter for our great country. And people are very excited about it and I can tell you, I’m very excited about it. Thank you all very much. (Applause.)
(The order is signed.)
COLONEL ALDRIN: Infinity and beyond. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: This is infinity here. It could be infinity. We don’t really don’t know. But it could be. It has to be something — but it could be infinity, right?
Okay. (Applause.)
Dear god, we’re doomed.
Poor Buzz. Used as an ornament for something that isn’t ever going to happen. A man who pissed away more dignity while on the moon than trump will ever have. The orange space alien has no intention of putting funds into NASA to support this. Hopefully, this serves as a warning to others invited to appear beside this idiot to always turn down the invitation. Whatever event it may be, it will be about trump, not them. Not their cause.
It has been said that most politicians speak at around 10th grade level because that’s what a majority of their target audience can understand; Trump speaks at about a 3rd grade level because that’s what HE understands.
Our nation certainly could have done without the space between Trump’s ears.
Oh come on, PZ, we all know the answer to that. Who else has that much space?
Um, because he’s the only person that matters? I can tell you.
I wonder if Dump even knows what the NSC or it’s predecessor, NASC, was for or the story behind them: how Nixon abolished NASC and Bush I who both created and abolished NSC. I’m thinking not.
Thank you.
Oh, another executive order. Those don’t mean shit. Just more smoke sans mirrors from the Tiny Tyrant, who is still being foiled by all the big fuck ups.
What a befuddled buffoon. After telling us he has a good brain, “the best brain”, he then comes out with this gibberish attempting to respond to the obvious movie quote? His “brain” doesn;t really work anymore, note all the typos in his ubiquitous Tweets. I bet his arrogance thinks the spellchecker is, “WRONG!”, and forces his misspelling into the Tweet.
Since the Trump remark that Buzz was responding to isn’t in the official transcript, it’s unclear why Buzz said “Infinity and beyond”. Here, from io9/Gizmodo, is the context:
Buzz’s response went soaring over Trump’s weave.
The link is http://io9.gizmodo.com/buzz-aldrins-toy-story-joke-hilariously-soars-over-trum-1796573118
Meanwhile, CNN reports that Japan is planning a moon landing:
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/29/asia/japan-moon-landing-jaxa/index.html
Anybody else getting the feeling that other countries are catching on that this is their chance to fill the empty space that is being left by the US?
@#8 magistramaria
I hope so, because I’m in favor of more space exploration and the more countries doing it, the better.
Speaking of the Moon, the US might be squandering an opportunity here. Part of the reason for the International Space Station being international was because it was deliberately meant to be a post-Cold War project to showcase good will and bring countries into a collaborative space exploration project together. A next-generation version of that, one that would probably be within the technological reach of other countries with space programs if we worked together, would be some kind of Moon research base effort (particularly if we brought China into it).
But what are the odds of that happening with Trump fumbling around with space policy the same way he screws up with everything else?
The only way Trump is going to get interested in the Moon is if he thinks he can build a hotel on it.
microraptor@10,
Or a golf course. Imagine how far a championship-level golfer like Trump could hit a drive on the moon, with reduced gravity and no air resistance!
@KG. And preferably with no spacesuit.
I hope China announces that it is going to the moon, on its own and not as part of an international effort. Might be another Sputnik moment for the US, and we’ll pay attention to our broken educational system again.
@13 mykroft
Err http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/07/china-prepares-moon-landing/ perhaps?
Countries that are not the US have been planning space expeditions long before last November. This is common knowledge. Not everything revolves around us or is a commentary on our fucking stupidity.
On a positive note, upon hearing the ravings of the mad Lord Dampnut, the Alien Invasion fleet tasked with sterilizing Earth began decelerating in preparation to return to their home world. “Fhe.”, gurgled the trans-demensional cephalopod, which loosely translates as, “Stupid Apes, extinction emanate. Why bother.” and some stuff about FTL travel that didn’t get re-tweeted and hence is lost to Mankind.
“This is infinity here. It could be infinity. We don’t really don’t know. But it could be. It has to be something — but it could be infinity, right? “. A little bit long, yes, but… best sci-fi movie tagline ever?
@Tacitus: I think he was getting the empty space between his ears confused with infinity.