Space Shuttle.

[Matt Deckard]

They still have the same problem they had with Columbia... falling foam.
At the recent launch Discovery was hit by a piece of foam on it's lift off. They don't really know how much of a gouge the Columbia took, though they can estimate how much of a gouge was needed to cause the burn up on entry. The question remains, did the Discovery take such a gouge?

Since this is a problem that could not be fixed, I think it is time to cancel the shuttle project and get our updated space vehicles into design and production.

 

[scotrace]

Because

"Somewhere out there, there has to be something better than man.
Has to be."

 

[zeus36]

Been thinking about this whole thing for a while now. I grew up in the space days of the sixties and was very excited about us going to the moon and creating a space station. By all predictions we should have been colonizing Mars by now!
I'm also a SCI-FI fan and have read lots of stories as I'm sure you have. Seems that we are spinning our wheels and throwing a lot of cash at space exploration. While we've had some rewards, there is just too much to fix on THIS planet and I now feel the answer is not to spread outward until we clean up our mess here.

 

[ClintonHammond]

Cleaning up our mess here is just scooping the cat box on a sinking ship...

What we need to do is make a real, solid plan for getting off this ill-fated rock for good...

I'll recommend reading 'The Millennial Project' by Marshal T Savage

 

[Feraud]

I agree with the idea that we have put too much money into space projects. And for what? Science, discovery, life on Mars?
Let us look into curbing hunger, poverty and war before wasting money on this outer space nonsense.

 

[BellyTank]

Good thinking!
B
T

 

[Biltmore Bob]

"Because"...

"Somewhere out there, there has to be something better than man.
Has to be."

Truer words have never been spoken, Scotty.

That something of which you speak is not a something, 'tis a Someone.

 

[ClintonHammond]

" ...is not a something, 'tis a Someone."

We can hope...

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

I am a big fan of space exploration and in my opinion the best thing NASA can do is simply eliminate itself as the major US spaceflight organization.

NASA and the US Government are far too protective of their space monopoly which really discourages investment in private space ventures such as space tourism. And the truth is that private companies could probably accomplish a lot more at more reasonable prices. Heck, look at Rutan and Spaceship One did on what is essentially peanuts by NASA standards.

Back at the height of the Cold War perhaps there were practical reasons for heavy US government control of space exploration but those reasons have all disappeared today.

 

[scotrace]

I am a big fan of space exploration and in my opinion the best thing NASA can do is simply eliminate itself as the major US spaceflight organization.

NASA and the US Government are far too protective of their space monopoly which really discourages investment in private space ventures such as space tourism. And the truth is that private companies could probably accomplish a lot more at more reasonable prices. Heck, look at Rutan and Spaceship One did on what is essentially peanuts by NASA standards.

Back at the height of the Cold War perhaps there were practical reasons for heavy US government control of space exploration but those reasons have all disappeared today.

I agree 100%. Privatize!

And the "Something better than man" quote is spoken by Taylor in the first Planet of the Apes film. He gave it as his reason for wanting to be one of the first men to travel outside our galaxy.

 

[BellyTank]

It's amazing what has been achieved in the 'X Prize' venture- there's a lot of imagination and ingenuity out there in the private world- beyond all the red tape and politics. Burt Rutan and friends have come a long way-

http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/041004_spaceshipone_x-prize_flight_2.html

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/10/04/spaceshipone.attempt.cnn/

B
T

 

[Brad Bowers]

I'm all for private space flights. I'm just as excited about it now as I was over thirty years ago. I remember watching the last few moon landings and Skylab when I was a kid, and later seeing the space shuttle Enterprise when she came to town on a visit. I once thought about being an astronaut, and later thought about becoming an astronomer, but I had neither the eyesight, mathematical or scientific skills to do that. But I still think we should pursue space exploration, in the most cost-effective way.

Brad

 

[shamus]

I haven't really seen any great so far from the space shuttles? Or did I miss something?

Seems the only thing they do well is drop off spy satelights or GPS for military bombings...

Again.. did I miss something they did for the greater good of mankind?

I like space, the moon all that. But really, we are never going to have malls on Mars and hear, "Put on your space suit Billy before you go play..."

Let's clean up this place before we go ruin another... If anything lets figure out a way to put all our garbage, radioactive waste and what ever else is bad on the moon...It can be like the Earth's basement...

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Space

I feel a certain ambivalence about spending all that money on space flights, as long as there is poverty and wars on earth. But, it has been one of the joys of my life to watch space shuttles, moon walks (I don't mean MJ's), and especially the voyages of Voyager and other exploratory space vehicles, not to mention those wonderful Hubble telescope images.

The truth is: yes, they need to go back to the drawing board, and, as Matt says, "get our updated space vehicles back into design and production." Why? Because I believe it is human nature to need to explore and expand.

How many people died on voyages to discover other parts of the world? How many died coming to and trying to live in wild America? How many died on the trek across the continent to settle lands in the West. Thousands? More than thousands? If you count African Slaves who were brought here against their will, you get into the millions.

How many have died trying to conquer space: about twenty or so, maybe more if you count all the test flights guys who tried to go higher and faster? Still dozens, maybe hundreds?

We are not going to stop exploration -- it will continue, if not in this county, than in other countries. Is there someone out there with whom we want to communicate? Don't know -- but it could very well save our lives someday if all it is is colonizing or mining or learning how to stop a disaster such as a meteorite striking us. And you know, sooner or later, that is going to happen!

We have to keep at it, I think it is in our human genes to do so.

karol

 

[Feraud]

I cannot help but think everything one could ever want in life can be found on our own planet! Adventure, science, discovery, etc.

If hindsight is 20/20 vision what could possibly come from encounters with other 'beings'? We are either going to attempt to destroy them, they will try to destroy us or we will live in an uneasy 'peace'. It sounds a lot like what we have been doing on this planet. If we can barely get along with each other, how could we possibly communicate and learn from something that might look extremely different from ourselves?

Exploration and scientific knowlege is fine. The NASA programs seem to spend a LOT of money. And for what? To have to shut down the whole program when a "dinner plate sized" piece of foam falls off the shuttle?? If I remember correctly WWII bombers took a lot of anti-aircraft fire and flak and were able to complete their missions and make it home. Seem like we used to know how to make them "in the old days".

That dream of 'life on Mars' and 'living on other planets' is going to have to wait. If the shuttle cannot be fixed, it must be scrapped.

 

[scotrace]

We have to keep at it, I think it is in our human genes to do so.

karol

Well put!

Governmental monopolies in the US are a business model with mediocrity as the end product. Privatize! Spend private funding on space exploration, pubic funds for medicine (but research? Privatize!)

 

[scotrace]

We are either going to attempt to destroy them, they will try to destroy us or we will live in an uneasy 'peace'.

Isn't that applying uniquely human evolutionary imperatives to all possible species in the universe? Why would all organisms in all forms automatically be as hardwired to eliminate competitors as homo sapiens? This is also one good argument against self-aware artificial intelligence. "They'll destroy us" as in the Terminator/Matrix flicks et al. The reverse (also good) argument is that a self-aware machine would be free of the biological limitations our species has acquired, such as the need to eliminate competitors. All guesswork, of course. There's really not a shred of evidence for life beyond earth. Personally, I think it's out there, but intentionally unreachable. True artificial intelligence, however, is a matter of time.
The space program has provided numerous benefits for our everyday lives since the 1960's. It's worth continuing, as long as the government gets out of the game.

If I remember correctly WWII bombers took a lot of anti-aircraft fire and flak and were able to complete their missions and make it home.

Absolutely so. But they weren't leaving the planetary atmosphere and didn't have to deal with the devastating mechanics of re-entry.

 

[hatflick1]

SPACED OUT

I was in Vietnam in '69 when the first moon walk took place. What I recall the most of the event was, shortly thereafter, the military confiscated all current issue military pay currency (mpc), which the Vietnamese and VC were illegally amassing and using on the black market. The new replacement in-country 'money' featured an astronaut setting foot on the lunar surface. As I stood somewhere on the surface of Pleiku Province and stared at the depiction, I wondered what this feat would ever truly accomplish here on earth. Now with obvious world-wide environmental threats, wouldn't we be better served to launch an alternative energy program to save planet earth? Already there are areas in Chile where people are warned to not set foot outside certain times of the year due to radiation blasting in from ozone holes. Or maybe the suits those astronauts wear up there will soon become de rigeur down here. My fedora will just not look right sitting on top of that helmet.

 

[Biltmore Bob]

Fire and brimstone.

 

[hatflick1]

SPACED OUT, THE SEQUEL

Frightening to see a photo of Dick Cheyney sitting at the feet of the new Saudi leader in the New York Times today. More worrisome is the USA's increased dependency on the Royal House of Saud's oil. As the article points out, we're not delivering oil to the the US from Iraq as we had been told would offset huge costs of the war. Worse, suppliers like Iran, Russia and Venezuela are unpredictable at best. Russia even cut a low profile deal with China recently which further bolsters the energy needs of that roaring giant.
This creates two disturbing issues in my humble opinion: 1.) we will never leave Iraq because the Saudi's need our boots-on-the-ground presence to stabilize their rickety monarchy next door and 2.) we should cut back on NASA and launch NAEA, or the National Alternative Energy Administration.
And we better due it soon. Or our children will be left to pay five bucks a gallon in the not so distant future because we left them no alternatives.