Katie Couric's Notebook: To The Moon

By: Greg Kandra
Topics: Katie's Notebook

Video:
Notebook: Space Age Budget

In today's Notebook, Katie remembers the dawn of the space age, with the launch of Sputnik on this date -- and wonders if all the money for space exploration has been well spent. Click the monitor to watch.

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by kdconod October 7, 2006 4:51 AM EDT: That was one of the most ill-informed commentaries I've heard in quite some time.

It is said that NASA returns $7 to the US economy for every dollar put into it. Reality check: for comparison, Americans spend more than $160 billion per year entertainment, sporting events, movie tickets, etc. That's nearly ten times NASA's budget!

So you gotta ask yourself Katie, would you fund a program that provides excellent jobs and a myriad of benefits to humanity, or would you rather watch millionaires running around on a field playing a child's game or one of Hollywood's awful remakes?

I think CBS should fire you and use your salary to fund a scholarship program for needy kids. By my calculation you could send nearly a thousands kids to college on full scholarships. I wonder what impact that would have down here on planet Earth? I guess we'll never know...; Reply to this comment


by kdconod October 7, 2006 4:50 AM EDT: That was one of the most ill-informed commentaries I've heard in quite some time.

It is said that NASA returns $7 to the US economy for every dollar put into it. Reality check: for comparison, Americans spend more than $160 billion per year entertainment, sporting events, movie tickets, etc. That's nearly ten times NASA's budget!

So you gotta ask yourself Katie, would you fund a program that provides excellent jobs and a myriad of benefits to humanity, or would you rather watch millionaires running around on a field playing a child's game or one of Hollywood's awful remakes?

I think CBS should fire you and use your salary to fund a scholarship program for needy kids. By my calculation you could send nearly a thousands kids to college on full scholarships. I wonder what impact that would have down here on planet Earth? I guess we'll never know...; Reply to this comment


by towgatee October 7, 2006 2:35 AM EDT: Geez...I guess that let's me out. Even in the 60's I had to try to work up enthusiasm.

Not that I don't acknowledge all the advancements because of it...but I'm just not sure I had to have them anyway.

"NASA is one of the few remaining facets of the US that is viewed almost completely positively in most of the world. Every time you learn that some new section of the globe is becoming disheartened with America, consider the millions of people disseminated around the world who continue to be thrilled for the US and mankind when they see incredible closeup pictures of the rings of Saturn, learn of the exploits and accomplishments of the little robots on Mars, or see an international group of danger-defying scie
ntists on the International Space Station."; Reply to this comment


by artemism1 October 7, 2006 1:39 AM EDT: I was upset at the comment you made concerning the space program. That was America's shining moment. Perhaps the money we are spending in the war should be the more relevant question. What wonderful things could be achieved if that money was spent in this country.; Reply to this comment


by virtualtv October 6, 2006 5:30 PM EDT: Katie, what were you doing on 7/20/69? I was watching CBS News coverage of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin setting foot on the moon while Michael Collins orbited them.

If you want to know what real news is, ask Walter Cronkite. He was literally at a loss for words, or maybe he simply realized no commentary at all from him was even necessary.

It was that great of an acheivement, and it was for all mankind, as Armstrong proclaimed.

I can only imagine how disappointed he must be to see what you've made the CBS Evening News into--light, fluffy and loaded with college sophomore level handwringing from somebody taking home a salary in the low 8 figures.

I bet Dan Rather and Bob Scheiffer were also groaning and shaking their heads in disgust at how narrow and small your vision really is.

Please do us a favor and save the platitudes for the cocktail party circuit.; Reply to this comment


by virtualtv October 6, 2006 5:16 PM EDT: Katie, what were you doing on 7/20/69? I was watching CBS News coverage of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin setting foot on the moon while Michael Collins orbited them.

If you want to know what real news is, ask Walter Cronkite. He was literally at a loss for words, or maybe he simply realized no commentary at all from him was even necessary. I can only imagine how disappointed he is in what you've made the CBS Evening News into--fluffy, light and loaded with college sophomore level handwringing from somebody taking home a salary in the low 8 figures.

It was that great of an acheivement, and it was for all mankind as Armstrong proclaimed.

I bet Dan Rather and Bob Scheiffer were also groaning and shaking their heads in disgust at how narrow and small your vision really is.

Save the platitudes for cocktail parties on the Upper West Side.; Reply to this comment


by burgesskj October 6, 2006 4:38 PM EDT: Katie,
Well, you need not wonder anymore; without NASA & the space program, everything from plastics to newer-lighter cars, internal medicine, and everything in between would be much further behind.

When the world talks about the United States, they say "You sent a man to the moon, but you can't...." [Fill in the blanks].
NASA is THE Standard by which all Americans are held, and will likely be the greatest legacy we leave over the next millennia.

Of all the great things our progressive science & aerospace programs have given back to us, the price of positive publicity in the world's opinion is a pittance compared to what has been spent.
CBS could do well to take note of this. Your salary alone could pay over 600 Engineers & Scientists salaries over the next decade. Think about THAT when you talk of 'spending money on the ground'.
As has already been said so eloquently: EVERY NASA DOLLAR IS SPENT ON EARTH.
Not only is the current NASA budget less than 1% of our annual budget, IT IS ALSO LESS THAN IT WAS 30 YEARS AGO (when we sent men to the Moon: in 1969 it was $19B), and that is NOT adjusted for inflation!
That was back when cigarettes were 30 cents a pack, and a House often cost less than $30,000. Now that the average American cannot purchase a new car for the latter price, and cigarettes run over $5 per pack, we're beginning a new space-race.
Now we%u2019re spending less than %5 annually of what we did during the 60%u2019s.; Reply to this comment


by edkyle99 October 6, 2006 2:57 PM EDT: NASA's budget is a fraction of the money wasted on our Iraq misadventure. The Pentagon spends NASA's budget every three months just to stay in Iraq.

Unlike the Pentagon, NASA has a positive mission - to explore. The space agency has garnered worldwide admiration for the U.S. over the years, something that Iraq certainly hasn't provided.

So why do you pick on NASA funding without mentioning Iraq? Ratings?

I miss Bob.

- Ed Kyle; Reply to this comment


by dcair9 October 6, 2006 12:32 PM EDT: Wow. The person that had a live colonoscopy done on TV, and pleaded with America (and parts of Canada) that this is a lifesaving procedure rips the Agency that produced the technology that spawned those tests.

That $12mil a year isn't buying CBS too much, now is it?

Where's Bob Schieffer when you need him?; Reply to this comment


by smitchel October 6, 2006 6:27 AM EDT: Katie,

I just viewed your comments on the (doubtful) value of NASA.

I cannot believe that you and/or your staff could be so uninformed, especially at the same time you are reputedly part of a news organization more robust than the Geezer Gazette. I can't help but think that the world would be better served if CBS had donated your salary to NASA and you were sent home to do some remedial reading and browsing of such websites as imagiverse.org

Then again, maybe this was just a cry to the airwaves to see if anyone was watching, and cared enough to write one of these responses.

Stephen Mitchell; Reply to this comment