Celebrity Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson (THERE’S A CONCEPT) took to Twitter today to simultaneously lament NASA’s imminent hibernation and drop knowledge on us all. Here are some of the better tidbits from his rant:
“The US military spends as much in 23 days as NASA spends in a year – and that’s when we’re not fighting a war.”
“If Earth were size of a school-room globe, you’d find Shuttle and Space Station orbiting 3/8th of an inch above its surface.”
“If Earth were the size of a school-room globe, the Moon would be 30-ft away. Mars, more than a mile away.”
“FYI: Commercial Space Flight will not advance the space frontier, but enable cheaper access to where we’ve already been.”
The entire half-century budget of NASA equals the current two year budget of the US military.
And with that all said, I think I’ll go sit in a dark corner and be real, real sad about the fact that I probably won’t see any space breakthroughs in my lifetime. [Twitter]