WIRED Cheeky Patches

NASA sure likes mission patches…. but these come from WIRED magazine.

While they might be for tricking out our flight suits I am not a fan of the one of the left.

Here’s some context from the June WIRED cover story on Falcon1 and the entrepreneurial Rocket Boys:

“Here are NASA’s apparent current priorities: (1) Maintain a pointless space station. (2) Build a pointless Motel 6 on the moon. (3) Increase humanity’s store of knowledge by studying the distant universe. (4) Keep money flowing to favored aerospace contractors and congressional districts.

Only one priority of four correct! Worse, NASA’s to-do list neglects the two things that are actually of tangible value to the taxpayers who foot its bills — research relevant to environmental policymaking and asteroid-strike protection.

NASA can place objects on the moon for $26,000 a pound… A private company facing such numbers would conclude that a moon base is an absurd project… and would put its capital into the development of new propulsion technologies. But NASA takes a cost-is-no-object approach that appeals only to those who personally benefit from the spending.”