With no fanfare, the Bush Administration is taking military control of what it terms “near space,” thereby laying claim to the area of the Solar System that lies between the Earth and the Moon’s orbit. “A key objective … is not only to ensure U.S. ability to exploit space for military purposes, but also as required to deny an adversary’s ability… return to article
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Reader Comments (24)Page 1 of 1 pagesSorry, but this is the first I have heard of it. “to deny other nations”.
This has not been covered by the mass media, at least here in the Dallas/Ft Worth part of the country.
Posted by george de Merle on Sep 4, 2003 at 1:59 AM I think the American people have to stop being so big-headed and worry about the problems in their “great” nation before deciding to take over space and end up screwing up something there also.
Posted by anonymous on Sep 9, 2003 at 10:09 AM I totally agree. Space is like totally a vacuum and it’s like totally for everybody!
Screw the HST and the new JHWST! These are telescopes aimed at us. Prove me wrong!
Posted by Ty on Sep 10, 2003 at 3:12 AM It reminds me of the last space shuttle, A Israelie captan on board, and he was only doing high school experiments. The man was spying on Iraq. I always wondered why america stopped landing on the moon but is spendig a vast sum of money just to spin around earth. America is looking for a fight and is frightening. What makes America a war monger, is it the water in the great lakes?
Posted by george Archers on Sep 12, 2003 at 5:58 PM See article @ HTTP://www.eetimes.com/sys/news/oeg20030522s0050
Posted by e sorensen on Sep 13, 2003 at 12:13 AM This story just strengthens the point that the Bush administration has no intentions of peace. And continued unwavering support from the “go along with whatever George says” Americans is leading us to the day when we surrender every bit of freedom that we are supposedly fighting to “save”.
Posted by Barry Freed on Sep 13, 2003 at 6:46 PM Good editorial. This policy, is believe, is straight from the PNAC’s
“Rebuilding America’s Defenses” paper…what I feel is a blueprint for fascism. This has nothing to do with the spirit of Americanism is was raised to know. I am totally against this horrific use of space. American’s and the world should fear this…only bad things can result.
Posted by steve on Sep 15, 2003 at 3:27 PM Can’t you boneheads do better than this? I’m disappointed. I don’t know what’s more enjoyable. Watching you lefties piss and moan about the U.S. placing weapons in space or the fact there’s nothing you can do about it.
Posted by Jim R on Sep 16, 2003 at 12:20 AM Well one thing is for sure,if they say`WE WILL HIT ANY TARGET BY 2025`,that means they can probably do it as we speak.
Posted by danny moore on Sep 16, 2003 at 4:57 PM I’m a Nationalist and believe that we are getting away from what our country was about. We had done some evil acts like taking the best land from the Indians. So let us learn from this and not become the bosses of the world with our military dominance. We need to respect God’s beautiful creation, and not kill it!!! President Bush is on a power strike, and I don’t agree with it. Running up a couple trillion in debt we cannot pay is not kool, and is disrespectful to the younger generation. God Have Mercy On America!
Posted by Bobby on Sep 17, 2003 at 8:04 AM you cant even control near baghdad you fuckin imbeciles how do you propose to control near space
Posted by b on Sep 22, 2003 at 7:51 AM If you want to bash someone, go after the Air Force for not developing heavy-lift liquid fueled rockets as the Soviets did. I explained as much in my censored article on www.spacedaily.com “Is The Air Force The Enemy Of Space?” I for one find it refreshing to have a President who doesn’t cow to the Eurotrash. If the President was such a Nazi, he would be attacking, not defending Israel. It doesn’t surprise me that the 9/11 hijackers were in Germany for a time, what with the Towelheads wanting to finish what the krauts started. If Hitler were a Palestinian—I guess that makes anti-semitism cool with you, huh? If you want to complain about Bush, base it on the $87 billion he wants to blow on aqueducts out in the desert. We saw how thankful the krauts were after the Marshall plan, didn’t we. The ‘WPA for peace’ program will spend moneyto make Iraq more stable—like that helped the Saudi’s keep their scum from being hijackers.
Instead of focusing on the wars’ start, I would have your contacts at the DNC focus on the money Bush is begging for now, and have your candidate of choice ask “Why should we spend $87 billion more on Iraq when our aerospace infrastructure here is crumbling?”
You will get more widespread appeal using this tactic than the usual anti-military talk that turns many in the mainstream off. Use you brains people. Point out that the fact that the Proton Russia now launches has more thrust on lift-off than the Saturn IB, and how—now that Boeing’s Delta IV is on hold after Corporate theft, that Boeing has to use the liquid-fueled Soviet Shuttle (Energia-Buran) strap-on boosters (Zenit) as its only large comsat launcher in its Sea-Launch program. This engine is the RD-170, and while it has four nozzles, is one engine with more thrust than the Saturn V F-1. The two nozzle equivalent is the RD-180, and is used by Lockheed-Martin’s Atlas V EELV. So both Boeing and LockMart use Russian/Ukraine engines built by Valentin Glushko, a much smarter man than von Braun. The Air Force wanted solid fueled propellants that make for a harsh ride. Go after Air Force Chief Of Staff John Jumper, who opposes any space spending that could be used for true HLLV launchers with use besides the military. The left in this country is going to have to forget what it is against, and explain the things that it is for.
Posted by Jeff Wright on Sep 26, 2003 at 5:15 PM BTW, the last Titan IV has been launched-so that is it for medium heavy vehicles. Lock-Mart employees dropped a $250 million weather sat recently, so that shows you where our space infrastructure is. We don’t have weapons in space, the Air Force doesn’t have that much sense. They would rather fire over-heavy interceptor drones at warheads coming down than spend some money placing large space-based assets in orbit with HLLVs. Small spysats can find large Soviet ICBM bases, but we need larger systems to find smalletr mobile targets. Here is one suggestion. Bite your lip, and have your DNC candidate of choice say that she/he will support military space—but only if money FIRST goes to making 80-100 ton to LEO payload hauling Heavy-lift-launch-vehicles (HLLVs). This way, any money Bush spends on the program will go to a general purpose launcher that can be used in peacetime, and than, should a Democrat gain the office of the President, he only need cancel the military payload, but the taxpayer dollar can be used for peaceful launches of Solar Power Satellite systems that require HLLVs in any event. This is better than Republicans building silos in the ground and Democrats bulldozing them and another Republican rebuilding in a never-ending cyclethat seves Nasa not one jot.
www.astronautix.com
www.k26.com/buran this website has been shut down. It was a nice Russian space site. Try www.buran.ru
Posted by Jeff Wright on Sep 26, 2003 at 5:28 PM The Bush Regime’s interest in space is nothing new. It’s outlined in “Rebuilding America’s Defenses,” a paper put out by Project For the New American Century, http://www.newamericancentury.org The PNAC’s goals. set down in 1997, are part and parcel of the White House’s Foreign Policy, and is at the top of Project Censored’s current list of most underreported stories. We’re ignoring it at our risk, as the “war” in Iraq has shown. That invasion was also outlined in the report, along with the next four or so. Go to the site and check out who the original signers were.
Posted by Jay Nixon on Oct 6, 2003 at 3:12 PM This is nothing more than a MONROE DOCTRINE for Outer Space. Apparently, the rulers of the American Reich are not content to enslave and colonize the entire world (in the Orwellian American language of “freedom” no less) but want to colonize space as well. Welcome to the America Reich.
Posted by Destroy the American Reich on Oct 16, 2003 at 9:18 AM the us government has taken its paranoia to a whole new dimension. not only has the government almost succeeded in its goal of world domination, but now it wants to invade the area surrounding the globe as well and stick its big f***ing satellites up there to zap people who dare to question the almighty american police state.
Posted by ophelia on Jan 9, 2004 at 10:19 PM These cats are so completely insane its not funny. The money used for these space programs should go into domestic programs to feed the sick and house the homeless. Like I said, these cats are ridiculously stupid.
Posted by Desmond Mason on Jan 26, 2004 at 4:36 PM This article raises the question - who is attempting to promote conversion of weaponized space systems to civil defense systems that are oriented to protection of all sectors of the planet - and to ensure that each country falls within the defended parameter. The UNESCO Culture of Peace Initiative Local NGO Groups has a project on this conversion to civil defense against space debris and dangerous collision with asteroids. “Conversion of NMD to Civil Defense of the Planet”. I am interested in finding if there are groups that are promoting the global interest that are willing to collaborate on this world “flagship event” [UNESCO’s term] to provide an alternative to nationalistic antagonisms.
Posted by Alan Blanes on Feb 21, 2004 at 7:33 AM If its a defensive system no problem you will never know when it maybe necassery to redirect it in to another directions because of threats from out side our own planet.
astroids comets or hostile forces from other planets.
Posted by mlb on Mar 3, 2004 at 8:49 PM Interesting that stories like this are not front page news. I was wondering where you get your info from?
Posted by M.G. Montone on Mar 4, 2004 at 3:05 AM Page 1 of 1 pages -
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Posted by GA on Sep 20, 2003 at 2:26 AM 
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