Friday, April 15, 2011

Deep Space Requires Deep Pockets

Last night I watched a National Geographic show called, "The Edge of the Universe" narrated by Alec Baldwin. He did a really good job despite the fact that I kept picturing him making a joke out of some of the dialogue. But he didn't and it was really good.

One of the many interesting parts of the show was when a scientist said that NASA planned on sending another telescope into space that will be even stronger than the Hubble and would fly out even further so that they could see even deeper into space. It's called the James Webb Space Telescope and they plan to launch it in 2014.

I was instantly torn because I am fascinated by space, especially deep space, but at the same time I had to ask myself if spending the many millions of dollars required to do that was wise at this time when our nation is top heavy with debt and politicians who seem addicted to spending absurd amounts more than taken in.

I guess I just can't see spending such large amounts of taxpayer dollars on some neat pictures of space when we're so much in debt already. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see the pictures but I can do without it for now if it means saving all that taxpayer money.

But anyway, I learned a lot about space. One of my favorite lines was when Alec said that the gold ring on my finger came from an exploding star. All minerals, in fact, are formed from an exploding star including those in our bodies. So I guess we're all stars. Sort of.

Maybe NASA could send a ship out there to get some of that gold in order to pay for the trip! Seriously though, I love NASA.

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