I find these bits so depressing-watching our old astronauts have to beg and plead with an uncaring generation(s) for a desire to go beyond their limited horizon.

I agree with him for what it's worth.

Manned exploration is the only way to capture the excitement.

I also have been giving some thought to the decor of the space station.

While functional, it is not wicked cool.

I think some application of style to the station and to space objects in general is something that has been completely overlooked.

When the ISS sends a signal and video to earth - the ISS should look cool. It should look like a high-tech fantasy.

To say sex-appeal is necessary is an understatement. Part of the 60's moon-race was sheer bravado and machismo.

It was a "real man's" job to pilot a space craft and endure launch G's.

Now the shuttle is looking long in the tooth. If it is going to continue as the standard bearer - a cosmetic as well as a performance retrofit is long overdue.

Small things can make a big difference in the number of astronaut candidates and funding NASA receives.

NASA was cool once.

The drugged out, free-love generation helped to destroy the space program by trashing anything the government was engaged in. The moon flights became just another casualty of the anti-Vietnam, anti-government attitude.

It was turned from cool - to uncool.

Goldin tried to bring cool back. His desire to bring back the old logo was the right impulse. His background lacked advertising experience though and he could not follow through with the "right stuff."

Now NASA is nerdy - a place for geeks and dweebs who love pocket calculators.

PR
Advertising
Style
Sex-appeal.

The mentality that says this is foolish doesn't understand that public funding and desire for anything is controlled by the media these days.

How many folks here believe a diamond engagement ring should cost a month's salary?

How many ever purchased Tang as a kid because the astronauts drank it?

How many aspire to own the marques of Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Infiniti, Cadillac or Lincoln?

How many now believe SUV's and truck are "cool?"

All these things are media-creations. Conditioning the public to think it wants something it doesn't.

A diamond is a rock. DeBeers 60 or so years ago had an ingenius advertising campaign which links being a good provider and male with spending a month's salary for a ring. It's worked better than any of them could have imagined and sunk into popular custom.

Tang tastes awful. Always did. Bitter and disgusting. But if spacemen drank it it had to be cool - at least for awhile.

Luxury marques have conditioned the wealthy that paying a premium for only a slightly better car is worth it. GM, Ford and Chrysler almost singlehandedly changed the average US car buying cycle from 5 years to two years and from one car families to two car families - all in less than ten years from 1950-1960.

SUV's and trucks ride awful-jar you senseless over rough pavement. SUVs are truck framed to avoid the fuel economy standards set for cars. The industry manipulated the public into believing that trucks and SUVs were no longer utility vehicles for "blue collar" workers - but were items of "status" to be coveted. They played to male and female egos - the car had long been used as a phallic symbol, now it was the truck's turn.

Yes..the media can make space cool again. It is not impossible. They can make it cooler than it ever was perceived even in it's 50's-60's peak!

The world is all about SPIN.

;-)

SDAI-Tech1