Thoughts & Views: Mars? Tempting but focus on Earth first

After listening to PresidentObamas mostrecent State of the (Dis)Union speech last Tuesdaynight, I couldnt help thinking,Id sure like to be Scott Kelly.

Just to remind you (sincenone of the TV commentatorsbothered to point thisout), Kelly has been picked tobecome the first U.S. astronautfrom NASA to spend a year inspace possibly a prep for afuture voyage to Mars.

Remember NASA? Thatsthe National AeronauticsSpace Administration, althoughyou wouldnt knowthat from a quick perusal ofthe NASA website. But I dontblame them. Our space agencyhas lost much of its hype sinceour government forced it toreinvent itself after discontinuingfunding of humanflights beyond our atmosphere,although that could changesoon.

But I digress.

Kelly will be blasting off inMarch, appropriately enough,the month we celebrate St.Patricks Day, and for our manin space, it will be the very tiptop of the morning when hegoes on his way.

Ironically, as noted by thewebsite space.com, Kelly isscheduled to launch on a RussianSoyuz spacecraft to theInternational Space Stationwhere he and cosmonautMikhail Kornienko will liveand work on the orbiting outpostfor one year.

I wonder what ComradePutin has to say about this. Icertainly hope the leader of allthe Russias (including Crimea)was at least consulted. Giventhe Kremlins expansionistpolicy, lets hope that Putindoesnt extend the Russianempires grasp to holding theSpace Station and the Americanwithin hostage. Remember,the U.S. governmentspolicy is no ransom payments.

Despite the potential risk,Id still trade places with Kellybecause hes in the forefront ofwhat the President characterizedin his address as being ina race for the kind of discoveriesthat unleash new jobs pushing out into the SolarSystem not just to visit, but tostay (my emphasis).

This means colonization,folks. No question about it.

Obama and his advisers arefirm believers in global climatechange and they know thatthe timeline for Planet Earth israpidly winding down, thanksto out-of-control development,coupled with overpopulationand the widening of incomeinequality.

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Thoughts & Views: Mars? Tempting but focus on Earth first