I thought steroids were supposed to make you bigger and faster. Promote growth and allow you to reach previously unattainable levels of performance. Sure there are some side effects, but hey, no rewards without risks, eh?

So what’s wrong with “Apollo on Steroids“? Take a dream that’s been allowed to stagnate since the 1970s and promise to drag our technological capabilities back to where they should have been in the 1980s. But be careful, because it will be hard work to get to the 1980s; the current plan doesn’t even get us there until 2018. And let’s be realistic: the timeline will slip.

So here’s our proposal. Fire the slugs who came up with this great leap backward, get the government out of the business and let the private sector take over. Take just half the salary savings and the proposed $104,000,000,000.00 in spending and restructure the piles and piles of cash into a series of prizes (tax free) for the first private sector individuals or teams to make certain milestones: first new footprint on the moon, first thirty-day stay on the moon and first locally-distilled drink on the moon are all worthy steps forward.

Personally, I’m pretty sure someone in the private sector can figure out a way to get there cheaper and faster, and even safer, then NASA apparantly can. At least I hope so. People need real challenges to move forward, not silly returns to past glory.

One Response to “Not the steroids I know”

1. Nala says:

   September 22, 2005 at 3:56 am

   Hey now. I’m trying to return to past glories too: the size of my ass in 1992!