Current Event #15: America Moonwalks
Due: Friday, February 3rd, 2012
Recently, Republican Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich, proposed implementing a permanent Moon Colony, if he is elected the next president. In a world that is particularly advancing in the fields of technology and science what are your thoughts and opinions regarding this initiative. America has always been innovative and competitive in sending man to the moon to conduct research for advancement. Considering our country's current financial economy, do you view this idea as a valid talking point in continuing America's ingenuity on the outer space frontier?
What You Will Do:
Read the following published CNN article to determine if there is indeed a need for America to reconsider the race to the moon campaign. Should the next President focus on space exploration to align with America’s focus on science, math, and technology initiatives? How much government funding should be invested in a space program, if any? Discuss whether America should indeed employ individuals to man these space stations instead of relying on satellites and computers only to help boost the economy in Florida. In all fairness to the former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, be sure to also view the two accompanying clips in the article to hear his views, prior to forming your opinons. http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/30/opinion/frum-moon-colony/index.html?hpt=us_mid
Kristin Thompson
ReplyDelete1st period
I think in America we really need to start spending our money on more important things and start saving up for the future. Seems to me we, as a country we spend way more money doing things that later on in the future never benefit us. We could be spending money on things like stopping hunger, poverty, Curing cancer and many more important things, before we go and send 13,000 people on the moon. America has finally just started to get out of our financial issues if we would do something like this I believe it would put us right back in the problems that we had in the first place. This would be like if my house was going to be foreclosed and I got $100,000 and I went and spent it all on new furniture. What would be the point because without a house there would be no point for furniture? This is a very pointless idea and I think it will hurt America more then help it. I don’t really think a lot government funding should be spent on this. I understand where he is coming from a little but at this time we could really be using money on more important thing.
People have always said that we would soon conquer the moon, space, the universe itself, but few of these predictions have panned out. Generally speaking, plans like John F. Kennedy's to, say, land a man on the moon, have really only been accelerations of existing programs. Before JFK, there were already the necessities of building, launching, landing, and returning a manned rocket; JFK only moved up the time table. Gingrich's comments are ridiculous, but should not be taken as a sign of any type of failure on his part, no more than the predictions by people in the past century should be used as weapons to attack their makers.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of future space expansion, I fear that progress will only be made in the civilian area once more has been made militarily. The team of scientists who worked on the Apollo project were largely German scientists who had learned what they had through Hitler's (not inappropriate, considering) focus on military applications of rocketry. The USN's current space budget is higher than NASA's ever was, which is good - remember the old maxim, "Whoever controls the seas, controls the land?" Now, it's "Whoever controls space, controls the Earth."
Parker Larson
ReplyDeletePeriod 5
Btw- Thanks for including a complete biased article and then asking us to form our own opinions…
I do not think that the federal government should spend money on space projects. Newt Gingrich is just trying to appeal to people that think the space race still is worth anything. I think that the private industry should handle these things, not necessarily colonies but medicinal research and recreational rides. Also, the article failed to say that some research in space can be incredibly helpful. Bacteria and cancerous cells can be studied better as sometimes they act differently. Some substances can be extracted easier and react at different rates in low gravity. We already have other pointless government programs we need to cut and we need not add any more.
Kat Westover
ReplyDeletePeriod 1
I believe that the federal funds would be more useful elsewhere. America has a lot of issues that we need to face before considering going into space. I know that a lot of people will lose their jobs, but I think that even more would be jobless if we waste money on the moon project. I think it is an important thing to do, but the need for it is not as imminent as other problems. Right now, the satellites and probes are doing a good job getting us information. Until there are more funds overall and all the pressing issues are dealt with, then I think the moon colony should be put on hold.
Huibo Qi
ReplyDeleteP-2
Having a colony on the moon strikes me as an outlandish and ridiculous idea, almost as peculiar on making pizza a vegetable. I feel it is unreasonable to plan outside our economy, much less the planet entirely. Problems still dwell on earth, and extending ambitions past the horizon will not make the matters disappear. Just thinking about the amount of money needed to make it possible is a daunting prospect. Plus, the moon does not contain oxygen to supply life and food; where would the resources come from? Conjured up from thin air? Most definitely not! To keep the colony going, we would have to drain the sources from this land. Even if the colony were to succeed, they are vulnerable to meteors that are able to crash onto the moon’s unprotected surface. Down here, we are tangled with politics, the economy, diseases, poverty, and much more. True, our knowledge of space is scant compared to our advanced in math, technology, and the like, but space stretches far, and its mysteries are endless.
I believe that the article posted in CNN was somewhat biased; therefore it is harder for students to conjure their own opinions at higher levels while still remaining true to the text. I feel as if money like this can be spent on more useful, practical things such as the development on vaccines or cancer research. We are already in debt, why spend money on something that will not provide a bigger profit. The space station on moon would be for primarily studying the moon and the universe, however we can do that here. The cost of studying here to the cost of setting up the station are on two ends of the spectrum. It is completely irrational. Also, setting up the space station is one thing; maintaining it is a completely different expense all together. It would create more jobs, yes, but the practicality and the hardships that come along with those jobs aren't worth it at all. I just think that this is a very bad investment for America at this time. Maybe in the future it would be a logical investment.
ReplyDeleteJuliann Cho
ReplyDelete1st period
I really do not think what Newt Gingrich proposed to us is not very necessary, but he did it just to appeal to people. I think this article is a little biased, in a way. I really do think that the government can be using the money for something that will benefit our future, and not something completely unnecessary and pointless. The thought of taking 13,000 people to space is a little absurd. We could be using this money to find cures, helping the less fortunate, and possibly ending hunger. Something like taking quite a number of people to space isn't something that can or will benefit our country during these hard financial and economic times our country is struggling to come out of.
Heather Fowler
ReplyDelete2nd period
Although the article was biased and the author had very strong opinions; I agree that sending people to the moon would be a waste of money. America is doing all these just to save money; and it seems a little weird that we would want to just throw it away on something that isn’t important right now. In the future, when Earth starts to lose all its resources, then we could start to put money towards starting a colony on the moon. Money being saved could be put towards much more urgent things. Not to mention, I don’t think the moon has as many resources as we do on earth. This isn’t something that will pay for itself in the future, so we’ll just fall even deeper in debt. Many years in the future however, we might find ourselves being forced to live elsewhere. People always say that eventually Earth will be a dull, dead place just like it was before we evolved. But I think it’s stupid to try to start a moon colony at this point in time.
Jonathan Jang
ReplyDelete1-31-12
1st Period
I think that the next president should focus on our economy and help lift the country out of its misery. Although the author was very biased and had very strong opinions, I agree that it is a waste of time and money to send people to the moon. America has been growing very sufficiently and it would be a shame to just throw it away on some useless space project, since we are already in debt. For instance the money can be used on stuff like cancer research, biotechnology advances, and vaccines to help stop diseases. Additionally the moon does not even provide oxygen for life and I am pretty sure that people would hate the fact that they would always have to where space suits to go to a neighbor. To sustain life on the moon we would have to drain and devour the resources from earth. On earth we are tangled or challenged in politics, money, sicknesses, economy, poverty, and etc. In space it is just a mystery, we don’t know what would happen, what obstacles we could face. So it would basically be starting over again like the past, it would take forever for it to become like what we have down here.
Elijah Moore
ReplyDelete2nd Period
I am against going back to the moon to colonize it. I feel that going to the moon would just be a flex of the muscles and a waste of time and money on America's part. I dont think that America would be able to successfully colonize the Moon in the next 10-20 years mainly because we have not reached the point of overpopulation where we need another planet* to colonize. The only reason America traveled to the moon in the first place was to show the U.S.SR that we where further ahead in space travel and development .It is completely unnecessary for us to go back to the moon.
However I do not believe that we should head back to the moon, I do agree with increasing the technology and science fields in America. I feel that we have just entered a new era in the 21st century. I do not feel that the United States is far in the levels of new forms of technology it produces. With the death of Steve Jobs i feel as if we need to fund for further advances to devices to show that we do not need one person to show we can develop what other countries have already made.
Nate Bolon
ReplyDelete5th Period
I think that the space age is still in its infancy in truth. While a moon colony is probably very far off, I think that NASA should continue working because one day, we will have the resources and the cost efficiency to fly to the moon and meet aliens. Yes, the costs of going to space are astronomical, but eventually when the planet becomes overcrowded we will either need to build underwater cities or space cities, and underwater cities would kill the oceans, so we should attempt eventually to colonize the moon. By no means are we going to do that within 50 or even 1000 years, we need to start making the baby steps because it is our obligation to the future society that will have to deal with this problem.
Jack Jansen
ReplyDelete2nd Period
I think that the idea of this proposition is very cool. However awesome or intriguing it may sound I believe that we need to look at the practicality of something like this. I mean we do not necessarily need something like this. What would we really gain by putting people on the moon besides the satisfaction of it. Putting people on the moon would be a very expensive move for a currently cash strapped country. Besides we wouldn't gain any resources, or much of an advantage by having people up their. The moon is barren and rocky.
Kefu Zhu
ReplyDeletePeriod 5
Wasn’t there an agreement a couple of years back that said the moon was international territory and didn’t belong to any one country? Whatever happened to that? In either case, he should probably lay off the drugs. It takes a massive amount of money to get things into the atmosphere, let alone to the moon. Then we’re going to have to train non-astronauts to withstand space. And then we’re going to have to have the ability to create an efficient colonization plan. How is he supposed to do this while he’s supposed to have more pressing matters on hand? Like, say un-screwing the economy that his good ‘ol GOP buddy George Dubya Bush messed up?
Besides, why would anyone want to colonize the moon anyway? It’s a barren ball of rock, maybe with some resources, but you’d need mining and drilling equipment to do that, and that’s pretty far off from a “colony”. Sure it’s possible that technology would have advanced by his second term, but it’s hard to imagine that in seven years we’ll be transporting entire bases up to the moon at once, at little cost to the economy. Plus, I don’t even know why anyone would vote for the guy for a FIRST TERM.
Vatsal Parikh
ReplyDelete2nd period
I think that this is certainly an unexpected proposal. This is unexpected because, we are not even advanced enough yet to set up colonies on the moon. It would also cost a lot of money to go to the moon, and it will cost even more to send a whole colony to the moon. This would be very bad because our country is already in debt and the economy is not very good at the moment. Also if colonies were established on the moon, who would want to live up there? There is not much to do on the moon because everyone would have to wear suits all the time, and they would also not be able to go outside very easily. There would also not be much stuff that we use to have fun on the moon. It also would not help us gain anything very important such as scientific advances for practical things that we use on the earth. If it did help us advance in certain fields however then, it might be useful. But I do not think that this idea would do many people very good. You would also have to bring jobs to the moon if you were to colonize it such as you would need doctors and dentists and such. This might make maybe five to ten more jobs, but not a practical amount that cannot balance out all the complications.
Grace Gollmar
ReplyDelete1st Pd.
I agree with many of the people who have commented prior to me who have said that the article does not give a balanced view of the topic (it being an editorial). That being said, I think that the idea of using our money to put more people on the moon is not founded in practicality right now, with our country still being in debt and with many people currently jobless. The sheer amount of resources it would take to sustain people on the moon could be better spent improving the lives of people here on Earth, at least for the present. If there is any useful potential for putting people on the moon (e.g., to diminish the overpopulation of the planet), it should not be exploited at a time when there are so many other problems that can be solved in our own society.
Roy Huang - 2nd period
ReplyDeleteI believe that Gingrich's idea of establishing a moon colony is a rather far-fetched idea. I agree with the editorial that it would most likely end up being a great waste of money. There is a space station that is orbiting Earth currently and has used up $100 billion, and as far as I know, it has not greatly helped us in any way. Making a moon colony may sound interesting on first thought, but if you think about it, how will it benefit us in the end? It will merely cost tons of money to create such a colony, which I believe America simply cannot afford at this moment. Not only would we need a ton of resources to create it, it will also cost money to train astronauts. In the end, it will end up costing billions of dollars, and I do not see a major benefit from it. I think we need to address more important issues happening in our own country such as our debt and the job market. This is a nice idea for the future, but as this current time I think it's preposterous.
Brian Thornton
ReplyDelete1st period
I think that the idea of making a colony on the space station is but we don’t need to do that right now because we have other problems on earth we have to deal. The president needs to spend this money on other things and he should be focusing on the economy instead of going to the moon. Going to the moon is something we can do in the future when the earth’s resources run out or we start to over populate.
Going to the moon isn’t necessary right now because the president needs to focus on what’s happening right now and how to fix it. The space program is cool but this project of colonizing the moon is something that should be in the future when we have to go to the moon but we don’t have to go to the moon right.
Juliana Dunn, 5th
ReplyDeleteI think that America should re-invest in the space program, although I am not for the idea of sending Americans to go live on the moon. I think that the space programs we have in America are very important, mainly because they play an important part in our history. Putting a man on the moon set America as a country apart from others, and I do not think American government should replace people with machines on the moon. But, American economy is not doing as well as it was, and because it is not, I think it is a good idea to wait a few years to do anything involving new experimentation with Mars. I think it would be a good idea for aero science engineers to start brain storming but we should refrain from doing anything very expensive until we are one hundred percent back on our feet. The federal government should be spending more time and money helping more American citizens get more jobs, because there are not as many jobs in the space industry as others.The idea of spending so much money when so many people are still out of work does not make sense.
Ye Htet
ReplyDelete2nd period
I don't think Gingrich's idea is great because of the economy right now. I mean sure that can be a project in the future when America is soaring. There are many people who are jobless and the money that they might put into doing this could be used for a better purpose. Humans are not ready to civilize on the moon yet either. Sending in 13,000 people to the a dark wasted place is not really going to be fun for the people. I'm not saying his idea is bad it's just space colonies shouldn't happen yet. Yes man will achieve something like that but not at this time. Plus if it's just to run away from what's happening to Earth then it's pretty stupid because the only planet that's like Earth that is discovered is like trillions of miles away. About the probes/satellites I think they're cool but yes there should be a time when we can actually see the cool pictures we get in person.
JJ Finkel
ReplyDelete2nd Period
I think that Newt Gingrich's proposal of a new space colony is a cool, idea and is something that America could look into, but just not now. Some people can barely feed their families, and we want to expand to the moon? I don't think that such an idea is feasible with the current economy. Also the technology is not there. We have not yet developed technology capable of creating a space colony on the moon, and with NASA recently closing up shop, this technology will not be around for a long time in America. Also, what would the point of this colony be? It is cool and all to live on the moon, but not only is it not practical, feasible, or possible, it would not accomplish anything either. The moon colony idea is good in theory, but it just can't happen.
Carolyn Deutsch
ReplyDelete2nd period
2/1/12
After reading the CNN article, I think that we need to spend the federal funds on the more important issues we have. It would not be a good idea to just waste our money on something that right now is not a pressing matter. It is a good idea because there will be more jobs for people, jobs would open up controlling the space stations so it is a good idea in the sense that we would have a few more jobs. I think that this could be a good or a bad thing but over all I think that we just need to wait and spend the federal funds on a more important issue that will help our country more than colonizing the moon would, which would most likely only be a waste of our time and money.
Sophie Kahn
ReplyDeletePeriod Five
I don’t think that America should reconsider the race to the moon campaign. I see how space can mesmerize people about its great mysteries, but the reality is that our home is here, and if we want to keep it that way, we should focus our time on fixing it. The government should fund NASA to do experiments such as the probe to Mars, because it isn’t as costly as sending people out in space, and we can still get useful information about the planets around us. The rest of the money can be used to improve the economy, because although having more jobs for space station does help, overall it won’t be a positive addition. Instead we could create jobs that would help people while also helping our country. Sending people out in space won’t help our country; there are far more pressing issues.
Becca White
ReplyDelete2nd period
I think that Gingrich's idea of creating a moon colony is not a very bright idea. I just feel that this whole thing is just a waste of money. There is a space station that is orbiting Earth currently and has used up $100 billion dollars and that is not helping the US in anyway. Making a moon colony may sound interesting on first thought, but if you think about it, how will it benefit us in the end? In the end, it will end up costing billions of dollars, and I do not see a major benefit from it. I think we need to deal with more important issues happening in our own country, such as our debt and trying to get the economy back up. This is a nice idea for the future, but as this current time it is not such a good idea.
Arturo Tornero
ReplyDelete1st
I think Gingrich is trying to pull off a JFK, in other words he is trying to make a noble and appealing move, which contains some pros and cons. If we were to start a colony on the moon, that would show how technologically advanced we are-- not that we aren't. If we compare China and America, most people would think that everything is made/engineered in China, when in fact the U.S. engineers all the iPhones and ALIEN-WARE technology, while China just puts pieces together. Just by that people can see how were a step ahead of the game.Now, it would be a feat to colonize the moon, but you’d have to wonder what the benefits would be, because the moon is just a giant, dusty ball of concrete (& an umbrella from the sun). I agree 100% with everyone in favor of using the money to research/using the money for practical purposes on this planet; this Earth is slowly but surely becoming destroyed and occupied in nearly every square mile.
Caroline Liu
ReplyDelete5th period
I think the next president should focus on spending our valuable money on something more important than a permanent space center on the moon. Of all the things that the leader of a country could spend billions of dollars on, the moon should not be at the top of the list. Instead, the president should spend it on something more useful the country like education or health care for those who can’t afford it. I kind of understand the viewpoint of wanting to align the space program with math and science, but I know there are much more effective and much cheaper methods to encourage math and science. With all respect to him, I’m pretty sure Gingrich had no idea what he was talking about. This quote from the article sums it up perfectly “The hard truth to deliver to the laid-off engineers on Florida's space coast is that space exploration is another industry where automation has reduced the number of human employees needed. To propose putting 13,000 human beings on the moon is a lot like proposing to return to the days when steel mills employed tens of thousands of people. It's not a vision of the future. It's nostalgia.”
Keith Swartz
ReplyDelete1st
I think that this is a stupid idea because we could put that money into more important things like our debt. This moon colony sounds cool but if you really think about it this is just gonna cost millions of dollars and not much of a gain for us. If Gingrich is elected president our country will probably go into more debt so hopefully he wont be elected. We should spend this moon colony on other important problems.
Jeanie Stouffer
ReplyDelete2/2/12
5th
I DO NOT think that we should live on other planets. It’s a waste of money and the one and only planet humans should live on is earth. Other planets could be dangerous. Space is not important in my opinion to spend this much time on. It is good to see what is coming, but we do not need to live on other planets to survive. It takes months to get to a planet. People would see their family less and we do not know if planet will have cell phone service.
Science is helping the community live longer. It is great that people are finding vaccines for certain diseases. For technology, the United States is going too far. Eventually we will end up like the WALL-E movie and sit around all the time. People are getting lazier and kids are getting addicted. It is scary to think about.
Elisa Frazier
ReplyDelete2/2/12
5th
I do think it would be kinda cool if we could live on the Moon. But i just don't see anything wrong with earth it is perfect for sustaing us. And i think it would be a huge unnecessary waste of money. I am not saying that i disagree if we decide to do this but i just do not see the point.
Some bad effects this could have on us is that it would make the U.S have more debt then we already have. And we really don't need any more of that at all. As for the American people, living on the moon would probably cost a lot for them. If flying to the other side of the world is expensive, imagine the cost for buying a ticket to fly to the moon.
Ariella Hirsch
ReplyDelete5th
In my opinion Gingrich's plan to create a permanent moon colony is extremely far fetched. There are many improvements that need to be made in America that should come before we spend money implementing a colony on the moon. I do however think that space is important, and that we should continue research about space, and surrounding planets. I think that Gingrich didn't thoroughly think out a plan to create a colony in space, but rather he was looking for something impressive to say that would boost his campaign. He attempted this sounding like creating a colony in space is what America needs to be ahead, but what we really need to to improve the country we already live in, along with helping other countries, and preserve earth that will be home to humans for a very long time.
William Bukowski
ReplyDelete5th period
1-25-12
Gingriches idea was not the best thing to talk about during the debate. Our taxpayer’s dollars should be used for better purposes than to send a colony to the moon. The U.S. has many problems, and with the military returning we might have even less economy flow, because there is not as much as a market for war. The problems at hand should be dealt with until we have a stable foundation to start focusing on extraterrestrial adventures and colonies. Our industries could research them with there own money, so they work harder and this will stimulate the economy, and start a whole new industry, like when NASA tried to get private companies to take the reins on the space industry.
The development for the technology needed for these types of exploration should be mostly under the U.N.’s control however , because they basically represent the world. The U.S. does not have to be first to do every thing it could be a collaborative efort, because eventually we will need to leave Earth and it’s always good to start somewhere, but it should not be only U.S.’s job for the research.
Jacob Guskiewicz
ReplyDeleteI find this issue interesting and cool but a project like this is a lot of money. I think there is no need to work on advancing in our technology and science, in my opinion the president doesn’t need to work on advancing in science and technology. I find no need to spend a bunch of money on a trip to the moon we already have gone in the past few years I don’t think we need to look into more in 2012 on the moon. I hope we don’t put much money into this project. We should be spending our money this year on economic issues and looking on helping Americans get jobs. Also the president could put some of our money into helping homeless people out instead of trying to gather information from the moon.
I find it stupid that republican Newt Gingrich wants to put his time as president into looking into the moon because there is a lot of more important stuff that will need to be done during his time in office if he gets elected.
Peter Willams
ReplyDeletePeriod 5
Water WH
After reading the article I think that building a moon colony would not be a waste of money and it would be a good idea. It will create a ton of new jobs here in America, so that would be really good. More humans will have to be hired beacuse there is so much to do. If New Gingrich could really have a Moon colony by the end of his term that would be great.
A decent amount of money should be spent on this if they do it. It will cost a lot but it will pay off in the future if it works out. The space exploration program was closed down in America and I think that was a really bad idea, but now there is a chance to bring it back with a possible Moon colony, so I support the idea.
Brandon Ta
ReplyDelete1st Period
After reading the article i think a moon colony is a complete waste of time and shouldn't even be thought about. With our economy the way it is right now, i don't think we could even afford it. We need to be worrying about ourselves right now. I don't think we even have the resources to sustain life on the moon for a long time, considering how far away they are if any problems arose, we would not be able to help them. I don't think it is even possible to do so right now. Newt Gingrich should probably get real and face the facts. If he wins the election with his current state of mind our economy will plummet into a depression. He needs to worry about our country first, before coming up with near impossible ideas.
No money should be spent on this, money is tight right now and there is no reason to even establish something stupid like this right now. Maybe in the future, but for now it is a completely idiotic idea. I do not support the idea and i hope no one else does.
Tim Li
ReplyDelete2nd Period
Sending 13,000 to live on the moon is a cool idea, but now is not the time to look into it. Spending billions on dollars developing all the needed materials is a waste when the government could be using it to help create jobs and fix our economy. The economy should be our number one priority at the moment, not investing in space science just for "the wonder and glory of it". To be honest, I'm pretty sure Gingrich has no or little knowledge about what such an idea would entail. Money is tight and should not be used to pursue far-fetched dreams. We've already wasted a lot on war; now we need to focus on our own country.
Emilee Taxman
ReplyDelete2nd Period
I think that in this time of debt and loss of jobs, we should be spending less money on space. We need to be using the money to help people in our own country. I think we should continue sending probes and keep the International Space Station there for research but doing anything more seems silly. We have many more important things to focus our time and money into. We shouldn’t just shut all the good research down, but we shouldn’t work on projects that aren’t useful like a moon colony. I just don’t think this is the right time when we have so many other urgent issues. Using the money we need right now for stuff is not only stupid, but it is harmful for the working middle class.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDaniel Fernandez
ReplyDelete1st period
First of all i think this is not very smart and that the usa should not spend money on this right now just because there is a lot more important stuff than this, the space race is over this makes no sense. There is kids in Africa and other 3rd world countries that dont have money and can not fedd their kids and they are suffering for malnutrition, and us here living in the most powerful country in the world and were spending billions of dollars on rockets? I think the usa is just spending money just to spend money. We should save money and pay off our debts as a country and stop spending $28 billion to $44 billion dollars on rockets, this is just dumb for us to be doing right now and why are we even doing this it just makes 0% sense. But i got to admit living on the moon would be awesome.
Kevin Chen
ReplyDelete1st Period
I think it's pretty ridiculous to try to establish a permanent colony on the moon with 13,000 people in just 8 years. Especially now, when the economy is just starting to rebound, is not the right time to try to attempt a project that is both risky and costly, at hundreds of billions of dollars. Jumping from a few moon trips to a permanent moon colony is a bad idea. We have little idea of what effects having thousands of people on the moon for long periods of time would have. Right now, taxpayer money needs to be used on improving the country at a time where it is already unstable. Eventually building a moon colony is a cool idea, but it needs to be spread out over a longer period of time, at a time where the country is in a better shape.
Louisa Fine
ReplyDelete1st period
A colony on the moon would certainly be an admired accomplishment of the United States. I think that this might be a good idea if it is entirely fool proof. This would be a major investment on America’s part and if it turned out unsucessful it would be a huge problem. If it works well then it very well may improve the economy. This would be a praised project if it did so. But what if it didn’t?
At this point I would not take such a risk as to put so much money into a program I do not know a lot about. The United States is already in serious debt trouble and it is getting worse and worse this project will at least initially bump up the national debt even more. This article is a waste of time if you ask me. People should be more worried about the initial problems our country is facing not adding more on.
Ria Das
ReplyDelete2nd Period
I think that building a colony on the moon is an intriguing idea but there are definitely more important things to focus on right now. Our country's number one priority right now has to be the economy, there is nothing more important than that. After wasting billions of dollars in Iraq we certainly do not need to fuel more money into another pointless whim. Although I am not against this idea, it really is quite cool, but looking at the current state of things we have more important things to worry about.
Mookho P.
ReplyDelete2ed Period
After reading this article,I thought that it was interesting. Although, I think that the idea of establishing a colony on the moon is very dumb. Plus, with all the economical turmoil that we are currently undergoing, we shouldn't be wasting billions of dollars on something that ways go completely wrong and something that may lead us into even more dept that we are currently in right now. Also America is a country of innovations, science and such, they should worry about fixing their current problems first. And also, i believe that the moon should be left alone, and not have the human race go up there and live on it. As we live in the earth now, were currently dealing with many geographical, natural and man made disasters that we should focus on that is killing our planet. Before thinking about living on the moon, we should all take care of our home before it becomes uncontrollable.
Jeremy Werden
ReplyDelete1st period
As cool as going back to the moon, and having a colony on it sounds, it is economically impossible. With the current economic crises we have, spending billions on a pointless project seems stupid. It cost billions of dollars to get 1 man to the moon, and 13000 seems to me, to be about 13,000 times as expensive. When our country is out of the debt crises we should try to get 1 or 2 people back to the moon. Then worry about a moon colony.
The USA has no need for a massive moon colonization project. In the 60’s we were in a cold war with Russia, and it was important to beat them to the moon. Now no one really cares about who gets there. People just want someone somewhere to get back there. I am not sure Gingrich understands how expensive it would be to go back. Honestly I think what he said was pretty stupid.
Bryan Zhang
ReplyDelete5th period
I think that Gingrich's idea of establishing a moon colony is stupid. There is a space station that is orbiting Earth currently and has used up $100 billion, and right now, it has not helped us in any way at all. I agree with the editorial that it would most likely end up being a great waste of money. Making a moon colony may sound interesting at first, but if you think about it, it wouldn’t benefit us in the future. It will only cost millions of millions of dollars to create such a colony, which I believe America simply cannot afford at this moment in time. Not only would we need a ton of resources to create it a moon colony, but it will also cost us a lot of money to train astronauts. In the end, it will end up costing billions of dollars, and I think it won’t be beneficial. This could a nice idea for the future, but as this current time I think it's not worthy enough for an idea this big. We could be doing more worthy things like putting our money into our debt.
Melissa Turner
ReplyDelete2nd period
I think that it would be a waste of money to start a Moon Colony. Our country is deep and dept and that needs to be one of our main priorities at this time, not a "Moon Colony". I think that if our Newt Gingrich does become presisdent, he will need to reconsider this move and dissaprove it. Some people say that they believe our world will be a dead place after awhile, and we will need to find somewhere else to live. Yes, that may be true, but the moon doesn't have all the resources we need. Our country needs to be focusing on more important things right now, and a "Moon Colony" is not one of them.
Morgan Mann
ReplyDelete5th Period
I think the race to the moon is important in terms of scientific discoveries and predictions of what are world should be expecting in years to come. Though at a time like this in the U.S. and our economy, I think we should be putting more money into schools and working to fix all the lay-offs we’ve had recently. We have people suffering everyday because of the state our country is in and I think they would appreciate it if we worked on solving those problems first. Instead of giving billions of dollars into a program that is already wealthy. In my opinion, the race to the moon can hold off for now.
Ian McKeown
ReplyDelete5th period
2/2/12
I agree with the opinions of the author. This is nothing but a waste of tax payer money. I am seething with rage and cant stop laughing at the same time. Seething with rage because this was even entertained for more than 30 seconds. However, I am laughing at the sheer stupidity of the idea and the blatant obvious view that Newt Gingrich is the LEAST likely to become our president. Also, where are these 13,000 coming from? soldiers? immigrants? criminals? This shows we see them as nothing but veritable guinea pigs which gives the wrong idea. NASA needs to accept what they have and stop pushing it. The cold war is over. We won the competition. Let it die.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/30/opinion/frum-moon-colony/index.html?hpt=us_mid
ReplyDeleteSunny Osment
1 period
I think Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich should focus on more important issues that concern our nation and the world instead of making frivolous claims that make him look even more incompetent. I do not think that Newt Gingrich has the mental capacity or knowledge to know if it is possible to entertain the idea of “conquering space”. I am disappointed that Newt Gingrich is making conquering space and a moon colony are his number one promises and a priority but he is not making it a priority to cut taxes on the more wealthy and lower taxes on the poor. I do not think that Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich actually cares about aligning with the American, usual advances in technology or science, I think he just wanted to belt that out to act as if he knew something about advancement sin technology, science and space. I do not think Newt Gingrich understands how to run a country, much less understand how to make advancements in space.
Andrew Simms
ReplyDelete2/2/12
P.2
I think that Newt Gingrich is crazy. His idea of making a space colony on the moon is just ridiculus. First of all, how would he get all the oxygen? You would need to send space ships up every week just for oxygen. Second of all we have no space program anymore. How is Newt going to invest into a space colony while we have no ships to even send up there. Third of all, The USA is in debt, very deep debt. The USA should be focusing more investments into our economy and lowering the debt then putting it all into a “space colony.”
If Newt ever was elected president and these space stations worked I do not think we would even have the manpower or resources to man it. All of what is left of NASA is old men, I mean literally I think 80% of the people working in NASA are over 50 years old.
Raziyah Farrington
ReplyDeletePeriod 1
2-3-12
After reading this article and really thinking about what we should do I still can’t find a solution to this problem. Part of me wants to say yes! Because if they find a new life up there that would be great, but we have to spend money to do so. The other half of me could agree that we should save our money and spend it on more important things than going to the moon. I feel like America just kind of got out of a bind so if we did this it would maybe put us back into a bind. If we spend money on exploring the moon I think it would be lot complications trying to organize this project. Also many innocent people would lose there jobs because it would take a huge amount of money to fund this project. Not only is that fair to the people that’s going to lose there jobs but to the people that are trying to find jobs. We already have a major ordeal with the people that are standing up for what they believe. We don’t need another big one.Our world is progressing we don’t need to take a step back. I just don’t think this would be very practical for the world and everything it would put us through if this idea was actually realized.
Hugh Kelley, 5th
ReplyDeleteI think that the idea of setting up a colony is a very cool interesting idea. Even though it would be an interesting idea it would cost a lot of money, and would most likely turn out to be a waste of money. Instead of using that money toward creating a space station use that money toward research for sicknesses and other deasises. I personally do not think it is a smart idea to create a civilization on the moon. Some people may agree with it others may not.
Sadie Frank
ReplyDelete1st Period
I think that space exploration is, of course, very important to this country. Government money should be invested in space programs, and men should be sent out if necessary to find out all that we can about space. However, a moon colony is not the most obvious next step in space exploration. For one thing, the moon would not be able to support the human race at all if our planet were to become unhabitable. It can be made so, with space stations and controlled environments in which we can grow food, but there are all sorts of technologies that need to be perfected before we're there. There are other space explorations that are very smart at this point.
Emery Harwell
ReplyDeleteFifth Period
After reading this article... I decided that all i can really do is feel sorry for newt gingrich. i mean, what kind of mother does that. newt? really? but in all seriousness, this idea is completely absurd. we dont really have the sort of technologies needed wquite perfected yet, and nasa obviously cant do anything about it. also, there is LITTERALLY no value in having a us colony on the moon. like keh fu said, a few years back it was established that the moon would not be colonized by any certain nation. it is like antarctica. antarctica cannot be colonized either, and thats fine, who wants to live there anyways. so basically, newt, living on the moon is like living in antarctica. so i completely reject any form of your stupid moon base idea. it wont do jack squat for anyone.
Everett Dang
ReplyDelete2nd period
This idea is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. In my opinion, most of Newt Gingrich's ideas are complete bull. He said that kids should work as janitors to make money for their poor families. This is another of those ideas. Sure a space colony would be cool to have, but what good does it do? What are you going to do on the moon that you can't do on earth. Grow plants? What would you do with those plants? Spend fuel and months to ship a few vegetables down to earth for them to sell for a dollar or two? All you are doing is wasting billions of dollars to seem cooler than every other country. This is a complete waste. This would be better in maybe a thousand years when we can actually do something productive while on the moon. If Newt Gingrich is elected as president, I will move to Canada and forget all about this accursed country and get perfect free health care while I'm skiing with rhinos and monkeys. In conclusion, Newt is an idiot, moon base is a waste of money, and Canada has good health care. Merry Christmas.
sorry kefu... spelled your name wrong.
ReplyDeleteDavid Batson 2nd period
ReplyDeleteI think that we should settle all issues down on earth before we go to the moon again for any purpose. I think that if we went to the moon we sould be wasting money that could have otherwise been well spent. We aren’t ready to go to the moon again before we settle all feuds and unite the governments of the world so that we are all citizens of earth not individual countries. I also think that world hunger should be solved and our economy should also be fixed. We shouldn’t think about one country having control of the moon, we should make it a joint effort between all countries and wait until all countries are able to participate in this endeavor. Basically I think we shouldn’t go to the moon until there is an era of peace and stability on earth. My reasoning for that lies in the simple fact that if we discovered an alien civilization through the ability to launch probes deeper into space because of this moonbase coupled with advances in space technology, another world war would ensue that discovery because of everyone fighting over who gets to contact them first and various other matters. Also, if it is a joint venture we will be able to make better probes and vehicles to explore and build a larger moonbase than we could alone. I think that America should not be the only country to benefit from the moon, although we did make it there first. The world should benefit from it because the moon should not be viewed like more territory. It should be viewed as a scientific opportunity that the whole world should benefit from.
Lianna Malawski
ReplyDelete1 period
I dont think it's a good idea to send another space ship full of people to the Moon right now. We should be saving all of the money it takes to build a space shuttle and put it towards the problems on Earth. Like, taxes, and pay checks. It would help to save all of that money and put it to a better use. I think it's great that our technology has become much more advanced, but now is not the time to go to the Moon, when the economy is down, and so many people are jobless. It would be best to postpone the trip and fix Earths problems first. Hopefully the money would help solve some of the U.S.A's problems, then they could finally take a trip to the Moon.
David Archer
ReplyDelete1st
I feel like this is such a stupid idea. This plan of Newts will cost us quite a few pennies and by the way we are in a trillion dollar debt crisis right now. This is something we should not spend our money on. Until our economy comes back to full strength we cant even have this thought in our head. Also, What what colonizing the moon do for us? What is there on the moon that any one would want or need? We are years away from even thinking about this. Good ole Newt needs to rethink his strategy.
1st Period Honors World :
ReplyDeleteI think that going to the moon right now would not have a positive effect on America. At the time, I think we should be more concerned about the problems that we are facing here on Earth rather than what's going on on the moon. In time, do I think we should explore our neighboring planets? Yes, but at a time like this our focus should be on bettering the American economy. Colonizing the moon won't do anything for the ones here on Earth struggling. So I think that we should hold off on this idea.
Matt Dayton
ReplyDeleteper 1
I think that the moons missions were a huge part of American history and I am sad to see them go. In the past these moon explorations have brought pride to Americans. I brought us together when we were in the Space Race. If American's kept doing these explorations we might have found new forms of life. I'm not saying that we could have lived on the moon but we could have gotten an idea of what is out in space. We also could have looked for paterns of meteors on the moon and other space problems. I think that we also need to explore other planets outside of our solar system. I am very sad to see the space explorations go away and I think we can still learn things about the moon.
Blaire Sobolewski
ReplyDeletefirst period
I honestly think that America should think about spending our money on more important and helpful things, not sending people to the moon. I personally do not think that the president should be focusing on space exploration to align with America’s focus on science, math, and technology initiatives. Instead I think the president should be working on something that will improve everybody's life in America. If America does this I think we should use individuals to man these space stations. I do not think that only improving Florida's economy is a good enough reason to rely on satellites and computers. I think that this will a complete waste of money and possibly hurt America more than help it.
Waad Husein
ReplyDelete2nd Period
I don't believe that the next president should focus on space exploration at the current state the country is in. Government funding should be minimized than it was before. I think that if we were to get involved and invest so much money in space exploration, the country would be at a serious disadvantage. While there are awaiting discoveries to be made, we can hold off on ambitious curiosities. As of now, we can rely on satellites and computers because we've had experience with them before. America needs to prioritize and see what's in the best interest for the people before we branch out of country, and beyond this earth.
Daniel Ferreira 5th Period
ReplyDeleteDue to our financial state, I do not believe it is the best idea to start a moon colony. We have much more pressing issues at the moment that need to be fixed. Immigration, the economy, and many other things are more important at this moment. We need to fix what needs to be fixed before we can even begin to think about doing something of this nature.
However, I believe that this idea is possible and if we can fix our economy and get everything back to normal, we can begin to pursue this idea. It would be a great step forward for the USA and for space technology if we could pull this off. But first, America needs to worry about things on Earth, and the USA for that matter, before we can think about the moon.
Jeffrey Williams
ReplyDeleteI don't think that it is at all necessary that we pursue this in the near future. We were the first people on the moon and I think that we should just leave it at that. We do not have the economic stability to place a lasting project to get back to the moon.
However I believe that we should wholeheartedly embrace private space projects by individual American companies that would like to try to get to the moon. This is exactly the ideal that America was built upon, the fact that there is opportunity for anyone to do anything.
Alex Haggis
ReplyDelete1st Period
We all obviously know that the idea of Newt Gingrich's "second term" is rather embellishing considering it is far from confirmed that he would even get one term in office. That being said, I don't like the attitude that many people are taking of slamming Gingrich for his ideas. Although they are most definitely preposterous, ill-informed, and certainly worthy of ridicule, he is appealing to a demographic who long for our nation's ambitious past, the age of Reagan and Kennedy and Nixon. The idea that America could be the nation of bold, new ideas has sort of fallen by the wayside since now we use our federal tax dollars to invade countries whose names we can't pronounce and embark on frivolous war spending while denying basic human necessities to the people at home. In general Newt Gingrich has switched between the level headed Newt and the ambitious, idealist Newt who proposes ideas like this one. There is a stark contrast between the two and one that should be considered by voters since it is not necessarily a good idea to have a president who essentially switches personalities based on the demographic he's seeking to appeal. I don't know why anyone is even taking his moon colony seriously, but that is beside the point. In a week or two realism will set in on Newt, as it always does, and he'll wash his hands of the dilemma by denying his involvement in the matter or something to that effect. Either way a lunar colony is something far fetched and as Henry farmer said, in the past those programs have been in the planning stages long before being used as election material by candidates. Newt's ideas aren't bad, just not very well placed.
Julia Haines
ReplyDelete1st pd
I think that advancing NASA and space exploration is a great idea. While some may argue that the economy isn’t fit to do that type of thing, I have a different point of view. Many people think that we shouldn’t expand on American greatness right now or on companies like NASA. They think we should just hunker down until the economy gets better. These people also seem to think that if we just ignore the problem of the economy, either it will fix itself or the government will. Sure, this is a great fantasy, but it’s not realistic. It’s the people’s job to fix their own country. Having a conservative, passive attitude is partially what got America into the state it’s in today. America became great because our citizens were willing to adventure, explore, try new things. The best years of the USA were when there were inventions to invent, infrastructure to build, and jobs to be had. But they say we shouldn’t try new things right now? New jobs aren’t going to just appear. We the people have to make them, and the best way to do that is to try new things, expand on things. This creates jobs. NASA is a huge company that employs tons of people. We should endorse them, encourage them to employ even more and take on bigger projects. If the government just sits on money, like the banks are doing, where are we going to get? Nowhere. Money and funds aren’t just rolling into the government, so that if they just save it we as a country will be rich again. The government has to invest in the people, trust the people. The money going to NASA isn’t disappearing. It’s getting distributed through NASA’s employees, to the American companies that build the parts of rocket ships; it’s getting distributed throughout the people. And by giving money to the people, the people give back through taxes, and the USA gets back on track. This is why I support NASA.
Melissa Galvan
ReplyDelete2nd period
After reading this article, I think that we need to spend the federal funds on the more important issues we have. It would not be a good idea to waste our money on something that right now is not that important. I don't think that Newts idea of a moon colony is such a good one. This idea of his is going to cost us a lot of money and i don't think it will do us any good at all. He should be thinking of improving our country and not some moon colony. Also i dont think a moon colony will do any good. Gingrich should just focus on the more important issues then his moon colony.
Alexa Parvey
ReplyDelete1st Period
Although i think it is important to explore i feel that the government needs to spend the money on more important things. i feel the next president should not focus on the moon exploration. I feel the government funding should be focused somewhere else right now. i think America should use satalites and computers to help with Floridas economy if they continue with the project.
Taylor Headen
ReplyDeletePeriod 1
After reading this article I think that we should spend the money on something more important. We could be spending this money on trying to fix the economy or something instead of moon exploration. Although I think moon exploration is cool and would be good to find out more about it I also think that it might be a waste of money and time, especially when the economy is in these conditions. The next president should not focus on moon exploration at all, and try to focus on better things.
Period 1
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I think that the idea of colonizing the moon is a dumb one at best. It wouldn't solve any important issues, and would be just a spectacle of America showing off. I find it incredibly ridiculous that this would even be a topic up for debate when there are many more important issues that face our nation, and the whole world. It would be fiscally irresponsible, and morally wrong to engage in inhabiting other planets, when or own is filled with war, poverty, and ravaging illnesses. For now at least, we should focus on today's pressing issues.
Dilay Uras Hon. W.H 5th-period
ReplyDeleteI think that sending men to the moon to set up a colony is a great idea. I also think that the "future" president and the government should first concentrate on fixing all the economic problems on Earth. Hopefully that if they go to the moon and do set up the colony that they will not bring any of their problems from Earth to the moon.
After reading the CNN article, I think that we need to spend the federal funds on the more important issues we have. It would not be a good idea to just waste our money on something that right now is not a pressing matter. But i just don't see anything wrong with earth it is perfect for sustaing us.The government should fund NASA to do experiments such as the probe to Mars, because it isn’t as costly as sending people out in space, and we can still get useful information about the planets around us. This moon colony sounds cool but if you really think about it this is just gonna cost millions of dollars and not much of a gain for us.
ReplyDeleteDavid McMahan, W.H. 5th period
ReplyDeleteA man on the moon sounds like a good program to help our nations technology and to plan on what we are going to be doing once we completely destroy the Earth. However, it also sounds like a whole lot of money that we don't have because we owe so many other countries money. I think that when running for president it is very easy to say that this task will be accomplished, but with everything that is going on with the economy and other political issues, it just seems like it would be virtually impossible to set a colony of men on the moon. Besides, even if we did set a colony up there, what would it really do for us right now? the only thing that it could do would help us decide if it would be even possible to live there, and we have a while to think about that.
Justin Mayo
ReplyDelete5th period
A moon colony sounds like an extremely stupid idea. We have so many economic problems that it just makes no sense to waste money on a moon colony. Florida may rely on NASA and space funding for some of its economy but just doing this for that reason isn't sane. We could change the economy to be focused on other things rather than to linger in the past. This wouldn't produce any profitable things and would cost so much money. We would also need to permanently remove massive amounts of resources from earth. Gingrich is just pandering to Florida voters by proposing this far fetched plan.
Jamil Walker
ReplyDelete5th
I think that america spend their money on things that they don’t need to be spending it on.
We can be spending money on people that need money then on technology which is tons of money. The Moonwalk stufff can come later because it really not that important! The money towards that is useless becaue its in the future and we have to worry about the present times.the preseident needs to know about our problems but that problem doesn’t need to be solved right now. It can be don’t later in life.
1st period
ReplyDeleteHahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahah, Newt Gingrich is an idiot. He only wants put a colony on the moon because he wants money. I don't see why he needs anymore, but that's the only reason he wants to do it. Besides, by the time America puts a colony on the moon Newt Gingrich will most likely be dead. Plus we probably won't be the first nation to put a colony on the moon anyway since NASA's funding is being which, by the way, is because of the government's reckless spending. So Newt Gingrich, keep your crazy talk to yourself
Nobody pay any attention to Newt. He is a complete idiot. Seeing as this space adventure would cost trillions of dollars and we're already that far in debt, this is never going to happen unless we find proof of life outside our planet. There IS life outside of Earth. That is a fact. We just have to find it. This doesn't necessarily mean sending manned missions all over the universe because that would be absurd. Al we need to do is develop more unmanned vehicles that can fly through space at high speeds while being powered by heat and/or sunlight and controlled from Earth.
ReplyDeleteBefore we go on some long distance space venture, problems in North Korea need to be resolved, and all other wars need to end so we can have the entire planet behind a single cause of exploring space. The only logical reasoning that I can think of for the world to unite is if we were faced with an alien invasion, or even if we just found signs of life somewhere else in the universe.