[speaker001:] Okay, Howard, what do you think of our space budget and should we go ahead and, and keep exploring, or should we call a halt to it, is it doing any good?
[speaker002:] I think that the space program has done a lot of good for the country. Now I think what, we made a major wrong turn when we went into the, uh, to the current generation of space craft, the reusable ones, like they are now
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] because they have not proven as reliable as they should have, and I think some of the earlier approaches were much more, uh, much better in many ways. However, uh, you know, we've gained an awful lot from the space program, all the way from remote monitoring to teflon to, uh, some new space age materials, plastics and all that. So I think it's been a good investment. Uh, somebody was telling me the return was about twenty-five or thirty dollars for every dollar spent
[speaker001:] Oh, really.
[speaker002:] which is amazing for any governmental financed
[speaker001:] Oh, yes.
[speaker002:] program.
[speaker001:] Wish our post office could do that [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] I wish the post office would just stop raising our rates.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] That's right. I wish they'd just deliver stuff.
[speaker002:] I think, though, that now that we're finally starting to get over the fears and the, uh, oh, I don't know, the guilt that we had out of, uh, Challenger, I think maybe we can
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] pick up and go on now. But, I, I don't know. I don't think we really have all of our act together yet as far as clear objectives.
[speaker001:] I agree.
[speaker002:] The space station's where we should go
[speaker001:] I agree.
[speaker002:] at this point.
[speaker001:] Seems like that we've kind of gotten side tracked with putting all these different things up there to monitor and, you know, you know, and I'm in favor of, you know, getting closer to seeing certain things, but I'd like to see them also go, you know, go back up there, see, you know, what they can do. See about setting a space station up. I'm all in favor of the space program, and I don't think we should stop, and I don't think we should cut the money.
[speaker002:] Well, where do you think we ought to go with it?
[speaker001:] Uh.
[speaker002:] You talking about, uh, uh, a fully manned space station that we'll keep up there?
[speaker001:] Yeah, I would like, I'd like to see that. I'd like for us to really find out more about the actual universe and get up there and see what's going on, even if, you know, there's no life up there or anything, you know. But who knows. And I would like to see them do something like that.
[speaker002:] Well,
[speaker001:] I, I hate to see them just, you know, keep getting diverted off to spying on other nations and putting up defense things and, I think they, I think they lose sight of, of probably what they're supposed to be doing.
[speaker002:] Well, I think about half the nations now are, are military related, are they not?
[speaker001:] Yes, yes.
[speaker002:] And, uh,
[speaker001:] I believe they are.
[speaker002:] It seems like it's that high a percentage.
[speaker001:] You know, let's go back to our original thing with, you know, our experiments and all the, you know, our actual exploring of space and, and all that, and, you know, with, with Russia, uh, seemingly not going to be as big a threat.
[speaker002:] Well, it can't afford to [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Huh-uh, you know. Have you gone out to, uh, Fort Worth to see the space, Soviet space exhibit?
[speaker002:] No, we were talking about that this weekend. We, it's only going to be there a couple of more weeks.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh, uh-huh.
[speaker002:] We need to go.
[speaker001:] We went, uh, we took our grandsons and went, uh, the weekend before last, and it is marvelous. I mean, it's really neat how they, they have done it. They have done a beautiful job.
[speaker002:] Have they?
[speaker001:] And they have a, uh, scaled down model showing how they, you know, fuel it, or, you know, how they, uh, oh, the fuel trucks and things run out there to it and how they, uh, all the things that are against the actual space mission, uh, space ship, you know, how they fall away from it, and the loading of it
[speaker002:] Oh, yes.
[speaker001:] and then it's actually, you know, the smoke comes out like it's taking off. It is really interesting.
[speaker002:] Well, maybe I need to run out there this weekend.
[speaker001:] You really do. It's, it's well worth the time and effort. We went, uh, early on Sunday. We got out there about, uh, ten, ten thirty, and the,
[speaker002:] Now do you have to have tickets ahead? Excuse me.
[speaker001:] No, we bought tickets there, and if you have children, if you go to McDonald's, you co-, they have coupons, or did have. Now they may be through with them now. But, uh, buy one adult and one child gets in free.
[speaker002:] Um, I think both of my kids are too old for that
[speaker001:] Oh, okay, oh, okay.
[speaker002:] they're both, uh,
[speaker001:] You have teenagers or something.
[speaker002:] Yes, yes.
[speaker001:] Yes, well I had grandchildren [LAUGHTER] so, three of them, so between their mother and their grandfather and I, because their dad was at work and, uh,
[speaker002:] Did you,
[speaker001:] But, and the boys loved it, you know, they really did like it.
[speaker002:] It's very impressive, I'm sure.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh, it is, and I felt the, uh, six year old would, you know, that he'd be kind of bored, but he wasn't. Even the three year old enjoyed it
[speaker002:] .
[speaker001:] because they had one, had one of those moon vehicles
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] and had it so it looked like it was on the moon, and showed it moving around and stuff. So it was really neat.
[speaker002:] Well, see, that's something else. The Russians have had space stations, manned stat-, space stations for years now. You know, they had the Merv
[speaker001:] Uh-huh, uh-huh.
[speaker002:] and see we've yet to keep anyone up over
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] over a week or ten days.
[speaker001:] Well, in going through it, I got the impression that actually they were farther ahead,