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Lap cheong
   
   
     
   
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|  #1 Posted on 26.7.05 1149.36 | Instant Rating: 4.09 | | Promote this thread! |           | ekedolphin
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| #2 Posted on 26.7.05 2227.30 | Instant Rating: 4.52 | I'm glad to see it as well, but I'll still be watching with anxiety when it's time for it to make its re-entry. I think we need to take our space exploration programs to the next generation, and begin to phase out the space shuttle program. And it's not even a matter of safety, 'cuz as many missions as they've had, the fact that we've had "only" two catastrophic failures isn't a bad percentage rate. I just think we ought to start looking at ways to revolutionize space exploration again, instead of simply sending up space shuttle after space shuttle.
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| #3 Posted on 27.7.05 0655.17 | Instant Rating: 8.26 | Originally posted by ekedolphin
I'm glad to see it as well, but I'll still be watching with anxiety when it's time for it to make its re-entry.
I think we need to take our space exploration programs to the next generation, and begin to phase out the space shuttle program. And it's not even a matter of safety, 'cuz as many missions as they've had, the fact that we've had "only" two catastrophic failures isn't a bad percentage rate. I just think we ought to start looking at ways to revolutionize space exploration again, instead of simply sending up space shuttle after space shuttle.
I agree but it likely wont happen for a while. The shuttle wasn't what was wanted but what they could sell. The shuttle was what they could get the military to back.
Plus I fear the American public just doesn't understand the importance of continued exploration.
Perception is reality | whatever
Lap cheong
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| #4 Posted on 27.7.05 0711.11 | Instant Rating: 4.09 | Originally posted by DrDirt
Originally posted by ekedolphin
I'm glad to see it as well, but I'll still be watching with anxiety when it's time for it to make its re-entry.
I think we need to take our space exploration programs to the next generation, and begin to phase out the space shuttle program. And it's not even a matter of safety, 'cuz as many missions as they've had, the fact that we've had "only" two catastrophic failures isn't a bad percentage rate. I just think we ought to start looking at ways to revolutionize space exploration again, instead of simply sending up space shuttle after space shuttle.
I agree but it likely wont happen for a while. The shuttle wasn't what was wanted but what they could sell. The shuttle was what they could get the military to back.
Plus I fear the American public just doesn't understand the importance of continued exploration.
Originally posted by the article
President Bush has instructed NASA to retire the shuttle fleet in 2010, after completion of the space station, and to design a new generation of space craft capable of returning humans to the moon and of taking them to Mars and beyond.
So W has put it in the pipeline. Now the question is how long will it take for this to become reality?
Also, I am going to be curious to see what the video surveillance shows when the astronauts inspect the wings today. It appears there is concern that a piece of tile came off during the launch yesterday (heard on news this AM).
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| Stilton
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|  #5 Posted on 27.7.05 1046.03 | Instant Rating: 2.74 | While it's good to see the shuttle back in action, I agree with the statements that a new level of exploration needs to be put into motion.
Over the past few years, I have felt that humanity's aerospace legacy has been moving backwards. These are my main reasons:
1) The moon missions are a distant memory and no one has ventured out so far since then.
2) The shuttle fleet is falling apart and there are not even solid plans to replace it yet.
3) The concorde once carried passengers across the Atlantic at supersonic speeds, and with its passing, nothing has improved upon it or replaced it.
The space station aside, when it comes to breaking ground in Aerospace technology and exploration, we were more visionary and more active in the 1960s and 1970s than we are today. forgive me if this sounds melodramatic, but I think the human race, in these darkening times, could use something brave and heroic to light the way again, like the moon landings did a generation ago.
And while I realise that unmanned space exploration continues to go well, and last year's Martian rover missions were very exciting, little is gained by allowing the means by which human beings can travel into space, or even across the globe at staggering speeds, to fall into disuse and disrepair.
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| #6 Posted on 27.7.05 2159.33 | Instant Rating: 5.12 | Originally posted by DrDirt
Plus I fear the American public just doesn't understand the importance of continued exploration.
You can count me in that group. What is the importance of continued exploration?
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Last updated July 18th, 2005 | redsoxnation
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| #7 Posted on 27.7.05 2206.17 | Instant Rating: 4.18 | Originally posted by Mr. Boffo
Originally posted by DrDirt
Plus I fear the American public just doesn't understand the importance of continued exploration.
You can count me in that group. What is the importance of continued exploration?
If you don't continue to explore, you regress into a mindset similar to the Dark Ages. Why should ship captains in the 15th and 16th century have continued to explore, as there was land in Europe?
In terms beyond philosophical: Who is to say that substances found on Saturn couldn't cure disease?
Now, the space shuttle system is antiquated, especially considering they have been around for 25+ years, while human flight continuously evolved for the 20 years prior to the shuttle.
Onto a practical complaint: Where the hell is my jet pack? Provide jet packs, and that eases traffic congestion. And, let us not get into the Jetson style vehicles that would eliminate road construction delays. | whatever
Lap cheong
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| #8 Posted on 28.7.05 0702.32 | Instant Rating: 4.10 | | Mr. Boffo
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| #9 Posted on 28.7.05 2145.28 | Instant Rating: 5.12 | Originally posted by redsoxnation
Why should ship captains in the 15th and 16th century have continued to explore, as there was land in Europe?
Um, because there was money to be made doing it?
I know that scientific progress is a good thing. But I just don't know if it's worth $16,200,000,000 per year ( http://www.space.com/news/nasa_budget_041122.html ). I mean, wouldn't that money be better spent making sure people can get affordable prescription drugs, or improving schools, or something.
Heck, as a Libertarian I'd prefer if they gave it back as a tax refund (amounts to $77 per adult), thereby giving people the chance to express their support monetarily.
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Last updated July 18th, 2005 | DrDirt
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| #10 Posted on 29.7.05 0721.05 | Instant Rating: 8.14 | <
Even if you only consider space exploration in monetary terms, what it has contributed far exceeds what it has cost.
(deleted by DrDirt on 29.7.05 0721)
(resurrected by DrDirt on 29.7.05 0721)
(edited by DrDirt on 29.7.05 0721)
Perception is reality | spf
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| #11 Posted on 29.7.05 0845.50 | Instant Rating: 5.57 | Originally posted by redsoxnation
Originally posted by Mr. Boffo
Originally posted by DrDirt
Plus I fear the American public just doesn't understand the importance of continued exploration.
You can count me in that group. What is the importance of continued exploration?
If you don't continue to explore, you regress into a mindset similar to the Dark Ages. Why should ship captains in the 15th and 16th century have continued to explore, as there was land in Europe?
You know, one could say the same thing about the arts, which are much cheaper and not a giant gift to the Aerospace industry. So when shall we up the NEA funding?
 | Dahak
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| #12 Posted on 29.7.05 1922.59 | Instant Rating: 1.49 | Space is a tricky subject. There is a LOT of money to be made out there. However the payoffs won't be for about a century later. Also a lot of people will die in the process.
However I don't see how Earth can "fix it's own problems first". The population is not going to drop anytime soon. Most guess that it will balance out 8 billion in 50 years. Natural resources are getting scarcer and space has a lot of fairly easy to get to metals and other resources that Earth will need in the next century.
Companies might do a better job than the govt. However I want a lot of govt oversite into anyone in space. Asteroid strikes are not very hard to set up once you have a decent spaceship.
NASA needs to decide what's it's goals are for the next design of ships. Sure going to Mars would be cool but does it serve a purpose other than PR? The Lagrange sites and solar collector power sattelites are a lot easier to do and offer far more to Earth in the near future. Also it's a lot easier to work out the kinks 100,000 miles away than 100,000,000.
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