Bethany

Because I'm sure many of you are much more politically savvy than I: can anybody direct me to Obama's current official stance on NASA/Constellation? I know initially his only stated position was to remove Constellation funding for at least five years; but when he came down here to visit the Space Coast over the summer he responded to some concerns by expressing strong support for promoting leadership in space. At the time many people (myself included) speculated that his visit/speech signaled a significant shift in position, one which would soon be officially announced and expounded upon. I was just thinking about it last night while browsing through some NASA videos, though, and realized that... well, it's been a couple of months now, and I still haven't heard anything. I haaate when people say, "I'm not voting for Candidate X because I don't know where s/he stands on Issue Y!" becaue, seriously. The internet, people: it's a beautiful tool. Yet I can't seem to find any mention of NASA on Obama's website...? (Maybe this part is me being dumb because the site seems comprehensive enough, and yet I am just... probably missing something. ?? McCain's site has a separate "Space Program" tab but I don't think I've ever seen an equivalent on the official Obama site.) The only extended article uncovered by my Google-fu seems to be from an uber-conservative private news commentating website, so I'm guessing it isn't exactly an unbiased source of information. But if you know of any other news sources related to this topic, I'd be very appreciative. (ETA: Not sure if anybody else is interested in this or not... but this election tag on NASA Watch seems relatively up-to-date in gathering various news sources; obviously certain biases are evident in the comments, but there seems to be a fair balance of articles. So apparently the current statements circling are -- Obama: extra $2 bil in funding, focus on Earth-based aspects (climate studies etc.), no specific comments on next generation manned missions/Constellation/Mars/etc.; McCain: no real change from what has been featured on his official site, I think, just general support for VSE. Both seem to favour additional shuttle missions/extension on retirement.)

To be uncharacteristically quasi-political for a moment (and honestly I hate even calling it that, because -- really? It is 2008, right? And yet we still get so politically volatile from both sides about supporting science?) in, of course, a characteristically me fashion: the continued expansion of space programs ftw, brought to you by a few of my favourite STILFs. I'll limit myself to Americans for reasons of, uhh, patriotism and stuff (really because otherwise this post would be overflowing with the entire cast of every Trek incarnation), but feel free to bring in some diversity and share your favourites in the comments. Fictional characters are accepted!

( That would be: Space Travelers I'd Like to, errr, Fraternize with )