NASA continues to demonstrate government incompetence

Apparently the entire Artemis lunar exploration and colonization program run by and done by NASA (with billions of your taxpayer dollars and hundreds of contractors, subcontractors, and other parasites) is again failing.

Some green-propaganda-provider tells us that an “engine failure” doomed their most recent moon mission. The bloated and largely wasteful Artemis program has been limping along since 2019. They now claim the goal of getting humans to Luna again next year (2026) is likely not going to happen. (It has already been delayed a year just in the last 18 months.) Notice this failure came after NASA and millions of Russia-haters made great fun of the failure of the last Russian lunar excursion, including glee over a NASA spacecraft (robotic, of course) finding the little crater that marked the machine’s crash point.

NASA says that it will take years to rebuild some of the hardware destroyed in the crash.

We here at TPOL find it interesting that the propaganda spouter (as shared by MSN), among other things, tried to pass off a 1960s or early 1970s photo of “Mission Control” as a current photo used to describe how transparent and optimistic NASA and its worshippers remain. (Hint: all the white shirts and narrow black ties, to say nothing of haircuts and a nearly complete lack of women in the photo, date it pretty clearly. NASA blew 1.1 billion FRN on this failure, and so is begging Congress for more $$$.

We submit that this is exactly what we can expect of any and every government agency. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, things had not degraded as badly as we endure today. But Apollo 1 and Apollo 13 remind us of the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of government. As well as the waste, fraud, and abuse that are a common (and, to some, desirable) feature of human government.

Of course, NASA is not alone in this. We mentioned the Russian Luna 25 crash (August of 2023). We should also recall the failed Israeli Beresheet mission in 2019. And the Indian Vikram failure that same year. Yes, a later Vikram mission DID land safely in 2023. But! Poor design and a lack of proper planning (and cost overruns) meant that robot only lasted for a few days: it could not withstand the cold of lunar night. And could not be reactivated when the sun rose!

Contrast this to, among other efforts, SpaceX. Of course, the media thoroughly trashed Musk and SpaceX recently. The supposed failure of the latest Starship launch, Number 9, on 27 May, at a fraction of the cost of the usual NASA mission (and especially of the heavily-promoted, stupidly-inefficient, and insanely expensive “Space Launch System” – which NASA is considering terminating). But as even Space.com (a big booster of NASA) stated, the mission was not a failure and provided valuable info and experience. Even though it did not achieve all of its goals.

Anyone who knows the history of flight in atmosphere and of spaceflight knows that much of the work (and risk) is trial and error. Remember that the Wright brothers, and Curtiss, and many others, did not succeed quickly or easily. Fortunately, there was no social media and the same level of government worship in the first decade of the 20th Century. No doubt if there had been, we’d still be watching barnstormers flying biplanes. (If the FAA and all the other government nanny agencies allowed even that sort of dangerous activity: to say nothing of the NIMBY and BANANA environists and zero-risk activists.)

No, Musk and SpaceX are not perfect, or even close. But they are doing in months what takes NASA and other government agencies years. And without stealing money from people to do it – at least not directly.

Starship mission #10 is expected to launch in just a few weeks. How long before the next Artemis? NASA said that will be in September – which means probably 2 or 3 more Starship launches will happen before that. And the total program program cost will be up to a staggering 55 billion FRNs by then.

Because that is what government does. It steals and squanders money. It creates nothing itself, and usually wastes the products that contractors (mostly private companies) produce for it. If not by crashing into the lunar surface or burning up when reentering the atmosphere from orbit, then in combat. Or supporting other secondary parasites.

Assuming that the NASA Artemis spacecraft ever actually delivers people to Luna—whether on the grandiose SLS or SpaceX’s Starship—those astronauts are likely to be met by some of Musk’s people.

Or, if we are to believe some people, by Red Chinese cosmonauts with rifles saying “papers please.” Or just telling them that they are a bunch of colonizer criminals.

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