Why Not? Who Cares Anymore?
Two question marks in the title. Yeah, that is to communicate my confusion in this matter.
“Since Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, the iconic visual of the American flag they left behind marked NASA’s success in going where no man had gone before, marking their arrival for future visitors to see. Since then, all space suits worn by Americans have been adorned with the American flag. However, NASA has been supporting a design that may replace the American flag during space travel. The new flag, called the International Flag of the Planet Earth, is expected to represent Earth as a whole, rather than segment only the United States.”
NB: I can’t vouch for the source and the story is a bit over a week old, but it gave me a painful twinge or two while considering the idea.
I can see it for projects like the ISS and/or international efforts at grander things, but it made me ask if NASA is so passé that THIS is what they spend time considering?
I felt so proud during the first Space Shuttle launch… I was once again part of something AMERICAN. Some folks with me had been there during the moon landings.
Category: Geezer Alert!
I am SO NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS!!!!
Also,
This is not really being reported on any “legit” new sites but was picked up from here maybe:
http://www.space.com/29452-international-flag-planet-earth-design.html
A Swedish university student has created a design for an “International Flag of Planet Earth” that could be planted on alien worlds during future human exploration missions.
The student project, which Oskar Pernefeldt undertook for a bachelor’s degree in fine arts at Beckmans College of Design in Stockholm, features several interlocked white circles on a blue background. (See more views of the International Flag of Planet Earth.)The flag is intended to remind people that we all share planet Earth, regardless of nationality, Pernefeldt said.
Pernefeldt acknowledges the help of several entities on his website, including NASA, LG Electronics and several experts in astronomy, design and chemistry, among others.
So maybe that’s where the “NASA SAID SO” part came from.
/hey it’s a story, run with it, never mind FACTS!!!
/not pointing any fingers at you Zero Ponsdorf
““International Flag of Planet Earth” that could be planted on alien worlds during future human exploration missions.”
They mean human “expansion/colonialism missions”. And you’d best believe when the aliens start looking for someone to blame for their problems, “International” will turn back into “America” in a heart beat. ; )
Oh no! You mean we’ll be having illegal immigration problems and a welfare drain load from aliens now?
Galactic illegal immigration!
Look, we’re not hosting an intergalactic kegger here.
And, let me be the first to say it, “America” will turn into “Bush” most rikky-tikk
Hahaha Indeed.
NASA can blow it out their NWO ass!
What they aren’t talking about is the current lawsuit over copyright. That flag was already copyrighted by a Jedi Religion group back in the very early 2000’s. Seriously, right down to the way the rings fit together.
So how much have Swedish taxpayers contributed to our space exploration costs? How much has come from Algeria, Albania, Botswana, South Africa, Turkmenistan, Viet Nam, or any of the third world stink holes? The flag on our space craft represents the people of the nation that bought and payed for them. If the world wants to plant a flag on an alien planet let them cough up the trillions of dollars it costs to do it.
Roger- you ain’t lookin’ at it from their point of view. Any of our money we spend on stuff here in this country is potential “foreign aid” we could be sendin’ to them. It only makes sense that they’d be ticked off at us. Boy, the nerve of some guys, thinkin’ our money is ours.
Sarcasm off.
Typical. American brains, talent, and money produce the desired effect, and some geek wants to give the credit to everybody else.
More to the point: While NASA uses our tax dollars, the flag they fly needs to be American. Period. As soon as they are privatized, they can fly any flag that fluffs their feathers.
I was struggling with formatting issues and missed yer comment.
Anyway, I offered a caveat, but the notion fit so well with what is going on around us everyday I decided to run with it.
Addendum: I worked on the first 7 or 8 Shuttle missions at the tracking station on Kauai. Actually worked for BFEC rather than directly for NASA.
ZP,
I get it.
Some days between TAH and the Guardians of Valor/Stolen Valor webpages, I just want to throw my hands up in disgust.
/Meh, it’s Friday.
Everyone have a good weekend!!
When that idiot, I forget his name, from NASA started running his c*m sump in backing the global warming scam, I decided when it’s my turn to be Emperor of the US, NASA’s gonna go away. It’s done outused its liveness.
I could possibly get behind an international ‘space flag’–but maybe something more in red and black. We have to let all of those alien space-bugs out there know that 1) we mean business, and 2) their planet is ours. I also recommend redesigning our space helmets to look more like a WWI gas mask, and possibly officially replacing the term ‘astronaut’ with ‘space marine.’
Yeah! And when are we going to start arming our space ships? I mean, Lewis and Clark didn’t sally forth without weapons into the great uncharted wilderness, did they?
I’m in favor of the Marines becoming the major force in the Galaxy, this one and the next three or four over. Any objections?
Ex-PH2:
The Corps would have to expand it’s end strength by 10% or so to do a multiple galaxy romp and stomp.
I think NASA should focus group this thing. 50+ years of space flight and we still haven’t conquered even one alien world–it’s time for a change, and the forming of the Terran Empire is just that.
So, what does NASA want when we get to Mars?
Oh! I’ve got it! It’s about time the United Federation of Planets showed the flag! Here you go:
http://www.previewsworld.com/Home/1/1/71/929?stockItemID=STK632386
$29.95, coming in August this year. We’re supposed to have a working colongy established on Mars by 2026, so why not?
I never did get around to doing a United Space Fleet flag, but I can do that, too. After all, there has to be some emblem of unity. Right?????
What are y’all talking about? Every Freedom Day I proudly fly “Ol’ Freebie!”
http://futurama.wikia.com/wiki/Earth's_flag
Why not the DOOP from futurama?
theinfosphere.org/Democratic_Order_of_Planets
Cynically, since we have to hitchhike with the freakin’ Russians nowadays to get there, maybe the international space flag would have a shirtless guy waving a rifle while riding a bear.
How about a skinny guy, in baggy mom jeans, wearing a pink helmet, riding a girl’s bicycle?
Is this another “everybody gets a trophy” type thing?
Space does not belong to any one or any country. It is open territory. As Carl Sagan once said, it is the last frontier we have to explore.
There is already a commercial spaceport on the Virginia coast, where the Mars supply rocket is being successfully tested, what makes anyone think that this will not expand to other states?
How many Russian or Chinese rovers have landed on the moon to explore it? None. They’ve all crashed. WE, the USA, has one that just finished its water source survey of both poles of the Moon and either has landed or is about to land to do further exploration. WE, the USA, have put three functioning robot rovers on Mars. Who else has done that?
China has its own spaceport. We’re only renting room on shuttle rides from Russia to the space station. I think even Japan is developing its own spaceport. NASA is in the process of letting space become commercialized. So what’s the problem? Before long, everyone will have a spaceport.
Maybe we should be looking forward instead of behind. If you’re going to spend your time whining about what NASA is doing instead of being aware of what WE the USA are doing in space, you’re wasting time and energy.
If you think we AREN’T involved in space, you’re wrong. We’re light years ahead of the rest of them. Period.
Hey now.
Notice that the same peeps who chant that stuff about space belonging to everyone are also, generally speaking, the same usual suspects that pull everything they can get away with to demolish our own national borders.
Grimmy, I didn’t say space belongs to everyone. I said it is open territory. Whoever gets there first gets to plant the flag first. We got to the Moon first and planted the flag, didn’t we? Well, then WE own the flag and the Chinese can go pound sand. They should pay US to land their cheapass jalopies there.
Considering that there is a telescope in orbit now designed to search for Earth-type planets – meaning inhabitable by hoomans – just how long do you think it will be before the wagon trains start heading outward?
It’s open territory. Humans breed like rabbits and expand like a Mississippi flood. We go where we want to and claim the turf we land on as ours. When (not if) we start exiting this planet for other worlds, it will be for the same reasons our ancestor migrated to the Americas from Europe and other continents – to get a piece of turf for themselves and escape the idiot politics they’d been living under.
That’s who we are and it’s what we do.
There are BILLIONS and BILLIONS of stars in this galaxy alone. The estimated number of Sun-type (yellow dwarf) stars is in the 100s of millions, and the number of Earth-type planets close to that.
Now, using a little common sense, does anyone think for one second that Earth and the good ol’ USA, or any other Earth-based government, will have much government influence on any of those planets once they’re found and settled?
Because I don’t, and it’s ridiculous to think that way. It’s more likely that these exo-planetary cultures will tell an Earh-based government to stuff it.
In fact, it’s far more likely that once WE get into space and colonizing other planets, Earth be forgotten or looked at as a backwater spot that no one visits any more.
I will go along with NASA, ONLY if they name every rocket and spacecraft launched from this day forward…USS Enterprise, and their all tail numbers will be NC-1701, and the Commander is always referred to as “Captain Kirk”.
Otherwise, they can kiss my red white and blue ass!
NASA is passé. They live on old glories and repeat the same thing over and over again and then celebrate it.
Yeah, it’s great that they landed another rover on Mars, congrats. But look, ESA managed to land on a comet, with a smaller budget than NASA. And JAXA is dominating them all with Hayabusa. JAXA has an annual budget that is smaller than the one for ESA’s Rosetta mission, yet they not only landed on an asteroid and took samples, they also managed to return this. That’s how you progress in space exploration. You do new things, you don’t repeat the same thing over and over again.
And one thing’s clear, when China lands on another planet, they will plant their flag.
Space exploration could solve at least one of the problems here, and that’s overcrowding. Our planet is mostly water — that’s a problem for countries that only have a little ground. Take Japan, for example. She has and will always have a problem — unless she claims a suitable planet to inhabit. Russia wants to expand? Give them a planet of their own. China needs room? Hey, go find yourselves a planet! We could even find a planet for the likes of ISIS. I’d recommend Mercury, but that’s just me.
What? You didn’t think I was going to be completely serious, did you? Heh.
Merury? Or Titan. It’s a methane-covered planet orbiting Saturn. No one would notice the smell.
Personally, I think giving ISIS its very own planet is a good idea. I’d even kick in a couple of bucks to send them there. Name it Hell, and make sure it feels just like home to them: hot, dry, and dusty.
If you want to piss off a Liberal next time they go on about Hillary being the first US President remind them about Edith Wilson. When Woodrow Wilson had a stroke in 1919 she pretty much ran the Country for the next year and a half.