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NEWS > SCIENCE > NASA TO LAUNCH BOUNCY CASTLES, SLIP ‘N SLIDE INTO NEAR ORBIT
NASA TO LAUNCH BOUNCY CASTLES, SLIP ‘N SLIDE INTO NEAR ORBIT
March 6 2010
Washington, D.C. – For over fifty years one organization above all others has represented our best hopes to finally achieve our most incredible of dreams. It is space above everything else that has so compelled our species for so many years. The
rising and the setting of the sun, the twinkling of millions of tiny lights, the waxing and waning of the moon have compelled and made dreamers of human beings from the very first time we looked up and understood, comprehended, the world around us.
NASA has of course had a great deal of success in those fifty years. They have put men on the moon, sent probes to all the planets in our system, landed on Mars, placed telescopes that have helped us to see deep into the vast distances of the Universe. Despite that incredible and awe inspiring success however, the agency has long struggled with budgetary issues. Being publicly funded, NASA is of course answerable to the people who pay their bills, the people of the United States, and that has routinely caused more than a few shortcomings. In the midst of a recession, the last thing most people are worried about is space exploration, a fact which has prompted the agency to take entirely new tactics to space exploration which may include sending traditional children’s toys into near orbit.
“The agency is in tough in all kinds of ways. They have seen eroding budgets for years
and since the President essentially decided to can the moon program they are in tough. Everyone knew that going to the moon again would light the imagination of the public and for that reason alone it was worth doing. Unfortunately the people who hold the purse strings don’t agree,” said a NASA insider. “That is why they are having to think in different ways, do different things to try and capture the imagination of the people and the best way to do that is bring something familiar into space. Seeing a bunch of astronauts bouncing around in one of those castles would seem silly and even a waste of money, but it could personalize it for a lot of people as well.”
It’s not clear how the Slip ‘n Slides will work in the vacuum of space, but they are also apparently going up regardless.
“Millions watched that first moon landing and were just awe struck by it, and rightfully
so. It was a marvel of engineering and a tribute to the human spirit. In less than seventy years we went from the first flight to putting a human being on the moon, it was really a remarkable event and the awe it inspired was totally merited,” said Scrape TV Science analyst Dr. Howard Poe. “That fell into apathy very quickly however. That is natural of course, but it was also a result of not reaching further, going further, doing more. By holding the line, they doomed themselves to indifference from the public and that has reverberated through history until the modern day, which puts future space exploration in serious peril.”
NASA is also considering inflatable space stations, to which the bouncy castles are seen as a likely precursor.
“NASA needs to engage the people with awe again, with something that will hold their interest. I don’t know that bringing toys up with them is the best way to do that, or that bringing something so familiar will do anything to help engage the public. It might bring a few giggles, but likely no money,” continued Poe. “Hopefully they will realize that gimmicks like this will never work in the long run. They need to come up with long term strategies in order to really effect change. Hopefully they will at least have some fun while they can.”
Chinese space officials are reportedly planning to launch a massive ball pool into orbit sometime in 2011.
Anna Phillips, Science Correspondent
NEWS > SCIENCE > NASA TO LAUNCH BOUNCY CASTLES, SLIP ‘N SLIDE INTO NEAR ORBIT
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