NASA's Vital But Forgotten Role: Stimulating the Pursuit of Frontiers

Neil deGrasse Tyson is one of our most articulate and effective translators of science into the public sphere. Here, as the Shuttle program closes, he talks about the role of NASA and why he’s concerned about our priorities, infrastructure, and future — without NASA, there is “no force operating on the educational pipeline of America.”

“How much would you pay for the universe?”

Happy Friday!

Kent Anderson

@kanderson

Kent Anderson is the CEO of RedLink and RedLink Network, a past-President of SSP, and the founder of the Scholarly Kitchen. He has worked as Publisher at AAAS/Science, CEO/Publisher of JBJS, Inc., a publishing executive at the Massachusetts Medical Society, Publishing Director of the New England Journal of Medicine, and Director of Medical Journals at the American Academy of Pediatrics. Opinions on social media or blogs are his own.

Discussion

2 Thoughts on "NASA's Vital But Forgotten Role: Stimulating the Pursuit of Frontiers"

Tyson believes that the primary role of NASA has been to help children dream about being scientists or astronauts and that the program has been inexpensive. Not surprisingly he provides no scientific data to support his view about the impact of NASA, provides no other examples that could equally or better help in creating STEM aspirations, and presents no connection between what’s happening ‘down here’ and what’s being learned ‘out there.’ This talk is more of a PR rant and doesn’t really address the lack of value that NASA has provided to the people of the world.