Buzz Aldrin Speaks Out

And I found the article on a UK based news site.

Buzz Aldrin has some great things to say (as quote in the article), but the first thing that completely irritates me is that the first I hear of him making these remarks is in the foreign press. Why isn’t this news here, especially during an election year? (Rhetorical question, actually; I refer you to the apathy section of Dez’s post.)

Particularly telling are these remarks:

Mr Aldrin, 78, said: “To me it’s abysmal that it has come to this: after 50 years of Nasa, and after putting about $100 billion into the space station, we can’t get our own astronauts to our space station without relying on the Russians.”

And:

Republican John McCain has expressed support for the Constellation programme [sic] to return to the Moon but the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, has questioned public interest in Nasa’s [sic] space plans.

We’re about to be in a position where the pre-eminent nation in the world is going to have to mooch rides off the next door neighbor to get our boys and girls into Earth orbit.

Nigeria just launched a satellite for crying out loud. (Sort of. They actually borrowed Chinese launch facilities.)