JUST TOO COOL: SPACE FORCE!

When I was driving to Michigan for this year’s Acton University, I heard a speech that Pres. Trump gave to a gathering of small business leaders.   During that speech he mentioned NASA and the development of the

SPACE FORCE!

I heard some of the President’s talk yesterday in Duluth, MN.  He spoke about NASA and the

SPACE FORCE!

Let’s just say that I’ll sign up to be a chaplain.   That might have to come after they figure out how to reverse my clock about 40 years.    But, I’ll sign up anyway.

After all, I’ve already been a chaplain in space!   HERE

A long-time reader here, who is involved with NASA, took the time to send these inspiring images.

UPDATE:

Some wags had a little fun with this. I, of course, am really serious.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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17 Comments

  1. Andrew says:

    Time is greater than space.

  2. John Grammaticus says:

    finally starship toopers :) Shame I was born on the opposite side of the pond

  3. teomatteo says:

    That picture of Fr. Z in the spacesuit? well, it looks staged to me. (typical NASA)

  4. Pingback: JUST TOO COOL: SPACE FORCE! | Fr. Z’s Blog | Deaconjohn1987's Blog

  5. VP says:

    The space suit is a great look, but no Vatican flag?

  6. bobbird says:

    Fr. Z’s boyish enthusiasm is understandable. Space is already militarized anyway with spy satellites and who-knows-what else that is orbiting the planet. However, expanding WAR capabilities ought to cause all of us to pause, for “War is the health of the state”. Our outrageous loss of privacy has already been violated by spy-in-the-sky technology. What is used against a potential or actual adversary is quite likely going to be used against the Politically Incorrect. Little League Dads in Minot use this to kill people on the other side of the world, then go home to dinner & kids. I am not so naive anymore. Sen. Rand Paul filibustered the Senate a few years ago because of how this alarming space-and-surveillance technology threatens all of us.

  7. Kathleen10 says:

    haha, very cool!

  8. GHP says:

    Admittedly, the “Door Gunner” verbiage was photoshopped. (Okay … so was the Space Priest one.)

    More posters here:
    https://mars.nasa.gov/multimedia/resources/mars-posters-explorers-wanted/

    –Guy

  9. TonyO says:

    If you read up on military or quasi-military operations in space, you will without doubt come across a broad stream of thinking that we (or rather, “we”) should not “militarize” space, and should strictly prevent that from happening with international conventions that forbid it.

    Such thinking is certainly worth considering, because a war in which weapons are wielded from space can be extremely problematic. An EMP is just the beginning. And tooling up to fight such a war, or to defend against such a war, will be very expensive indeed, though maybe we can get a price break from Elon Musk.

    But in the long run, it will be impossible to keep military or quasi-military operations out of space, as more and more people work there and (eventually, down the road) live there. Humans inevitably bring disputes with them wherever they go, and equally inevitably these disputes can get serious enough that one side resorts to force. That’s all it takes, one side – it does not take two to have warfare. Efforts to prevent the development of an arming of any given aspect of reality can only work for so long: The nuclear non-proliferation concept worked OK for a while, but India, Pakistan, and Israel all have nukes, and Iran and North Korea do or will soon, will we or nill we. The anti-ballistic missile treaty worked – for a while, and then we decided it wasn’t useful any more.

    In my opinion, having a Space Force at some point in the future is both a necessity and a serious problem. A necessity because some country (probably China) will weaponize space, and we will have to be prepared to deal with that. And a serious problem because the costs of a space front in the development of defensive war strategy could be ruinous, and because space capabilities will represent vastly worrisome new threats (think non-nuclear KEWs) to all countries that could raise our ire, which will evoke strong negative reactions from countries not fully on board with an American space force.

    I don’t know when it will be the right time to field a Space Force, but I know it will happen eventually (if we are around long enough, that is. All bets off if the Second Coming happens first!) I just hope it is done wisely, not so as to create all sorts of new political evils that we spend 300 years mopping up or suffering from because we didn’t think it through. That said, I hope Fr. Z is the first Space Chaplain, and goes he gets to go with the first large scale training mission.

  10. SKAY says:

    I think China is doing a lot more than we are aware of. I did read an article that they are planning to go to the moon and set up something on the dark side.

  11. PTK_70 says:

    The first thing they need to work on IMO is a doctrine. An independent Space Force without doctrines on the use and uniqueness of “space power” would be rudderless.

    Pace bobbird, even in the Middle Ages, the longbow and the trebuchet had the effect of distancing combatants. Is the morality of this or that act of war to be based mostly or even partly on the distance involved? Modern technology has allowed for more precise application of deadly power thereby reducing unwanted civilian casualties and property damage. If as a decision-maker you can accomplish exactly what you want, then the question, “will the desired effect be proportional to the anticipated collateral damaiige?” becomes irrelevant. (And as an aside, I suspect even the Little League dads of Minot – if they exist – have a chaplain, or access to a chaplain.)

  12. GuyCovert says:

    Some questions about celebrating Mass in space:

    How would the Altar work? Are liturgical items tied down?
    Open flames in a oxygen rich environment would be dangerous, can electric lights substitute for candles?
    Which way would be Liturgical East if your space craft or station is rotating?
    Which way would the elevation of the Host be?
    Is the cup strictly necessary for holding the Precious Blood or does the current space solution to drinking liquid (juice box-style out of a bag and straw) reverently fulfill this need? It felt so wrong writing that, but is there another way?
    Would you have any excuse not to go to Mass when everybody you work with lives in the same tube?

  13. Charles E Flynn says:

    @Teomatteo:

    https://www.reddit.com/r/StanleyKubrick/comments/1n5d2a/a11_work_and_no_play_by_mark_englert/

    For the record, the talented artist does not believe in this conspiracy theory. There is a quite convincing argument at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_loUDS4c3Cs .

  14. trespinos says:

    Another military force, another academy, the students of which institution will be known as space cadets.

    (h/t to the droll tweeter whose name I wish I could remember)

  15. teomatteo says:

    Charles, i respect you too much (i always read your comments) to not repond here at the end and say i was kidding about the NASA staging thing. I am not an “anti-satelite”.

  16. Semper Gumby says:

    That door gunner’s shoulder patch reads: Making the Galaxy Great Again.

    Space Force spaceships should be stocked not only with barrels of salted beef and dried peas, but the collected works of Patrick O’Brian. “Which is most agreeable,” states Killick, “as reading literature keeps one away from the grog and the risk of becoming crambazzled.”

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