Space Program`

[Hamma]

It's usually not in my character to post a thread on such things, but I have always felt strongly about the space program.

There is no question in my mind personally, that the space program needs and has needed more recognition from the people, not to mention more funding and support from the government. I have always followed the space program hell, I even get NASA TV on my DSS. It is a frontier IMO that we need to venture into more and more. We are still orbiting the earth in the same orbit that John Glenn did back when he first went into space. That is just sad, we should have ventured further by now.

Try and keep the politics out :p Just interested what everyone's views here on the space program. Even if you are not from the US

[Revolution]

I wish that politics would stay out of the space program. Its the future of our survival, that is if we are worthy of it. Sometimes I do not think we are. But just sometime.
I think I will pop in the movie Apollo 13 with Private Gump in a few. Least they made it back. Wish I had Mission To Mars in my collection. That was a great flick as well........


So Hamma, if I have not stated it yet: Space Exploration is esential for our survival as a race. Maybe not at the present and maybe not for us but the Sun will last only soo long(billions of years ok ha ha ha), or an asteroid, super volcano, depletion of natural resources, etc. The survival of our race as living creatures on this rock, be it lions/tigers/bears oh my(Not to mention humans) needs exploration of space.

P.S. There is nothing like seeing a night launch from Kennedy Space Center near Titusville, FL... The most awsome site you might ever see.

[Tobias]

Aye give about 20 billion to the space program and stop some of the aid to other counterys, do this every few years, and we could be much further along. I am pretty sure that we Humans will one day kill every living thing on planet eart, accidentally or on purpose, an having some of us out there somewere else might be a good thing.

[Hamma]

Originally posted by Revolution
P.S. There is nothing like seeing a night launch from Kennedy Space Center near Titusville, FL... The most awsome site you might ever see.
I hope to do this some day

[Airlift]

The Space Program must continue. On the long term, it is the important arms race.

[Civilian]

I've never been all that impressed with the Space Program, mainly because it hasn't evolved. As Hamma pointed out, we are still orbiting the earth and NASA is accomplishing very little imo.

I would like to see the NASA get more funding (and it looks like Bush is going to recommend more), but I want to see progress. I do NOT want NASA to receive more funding so they increase the number of flights into space to run tests while orbiting the earth. What I would like to see is, all flights into space suspended for 2-3 years and NASA using the money saved to work on Plasma and Nuclear propulsion space craft.

Fortunately, I believe China(China spends 1/2 of 1% of government funding, now, on space technology) is very close(5-10 years) to sending a manned space craft to the moon, and I believe this could be enough to light a fire under NASA's ass to get them to work on a space craft that could reach Mars or even planets like Jupiter for research.

Another Space race is just what this country needs. Convince the American people that space is the future and that another country is going to beat you to the moon(for colonization) and you will get funding.

[Revolution]

I agree Civilian, with your post. Also once those Chineese get started, the moon might be theirs, and another space race just might be what it would take to get our ass off our asses to get to what we should be doing right NOW!

I know there is a debate whether we went to the moon or not. I dont want to get into that. But my question is if we got there in the later part of the century, WHY in the good lords name have we not been back?! That is my big question.
EVEN, lets say we DIDNT get there and it was all hype, 30 years LATER, we should be there now! At Least!

That is all I have to say, dont speculate about whether we went to the moon or not please. It does not matter its 2003 we should be up on that mofo right now!


P.S. Hamma you seen launches on TV and such maybe, but NOTHING is like being a mile away(Cant calculate that mile for sure just say, AS close as you could GET not being on duty) seeing that thing blast off! Night Even! In the High School that I went to in Titusville(Astronaut High School was the name lol) when there was a launch during school hours they would stop class and have the teachers to a fire drill thing so we could all see it launch. Now thats class.

[Denali]

The public opinion of the space program is kind of sad :( Most people I've talked to think that the program is a waste of time and especially money. I agree that they've been underachieving for the past x number of years, the fact that we haven't landed on the moon in 30+ years is disappointing to say the least.

NASA and the other space programs of the world are the future of our civilization, no question, but maybe we need to postpone things until we get things worked out on the surface of the Earth, then perhaps when we're all on the same page we can see what's outside of it as a joint effort...

denali

[Sputty]

They haven't gone back because there's no real point and it's expensive.

[Hamma]

Yea there really is no need to go back - other than just to say we were there. Unless they are building somthing there - a base of some form, there is no need to be there.

[Revolution]

As I sit here in front of this box typing on a keyboard I realize that maybe you all are right about going back, unless its for a reason. But if we have a space station wont the next step after that would be for a moonbase? Then a base on Mars? Etc....

I heard on the radio last night that Russia said something about the space station being closed by the end of this year. I do not know if it is just hype, I have been trying to track any info on this down. If anyone has information on this please give me a URL or what not.
It could of been the Russian part of it due to their 'shuttles' are a one use vehicle, unlike our shuttles, at least what I read on bbc.com news. They said they had only two manned vehicles left in their fleet and it would take 1-2 years to build another, so I thought I read. Any info would be great if I misread something.

[Navaron]

Rev, the closest you can get is three miles, which is still damn close.

As many of you know, I am deeply ingrained in aviation and NASA is one of the most amazing institutes ever. Simply amazing. In the next ten years, you will see the most innovative, interesting and unbelievable aircraft you could imagine. They do a lot more than send up a shuttle, they do a ton of R&D, safety, research on everything, and theoretical explorations. Without NASA much of the aviation community would crumple, and the US military would be hamstrung.

I'd like to see 3 or 4 shuttles going up a day. I'd like to see the space station become obsolete in the presence of the new space platform. From there, we could lauch shuttles from space, and not have to fight the atmosphere. NASA is amazing.

[Airlift]

The huge benefit of the moon is that it is relatively close. It is the perfect place to practice for a planetary colony or beyond, and if something goes wrong, we could potentially help from Earth.

Further, the Moon would be a great place to build and launch real space ships, because the microgravity and lack of a significant atmosphere would make it far more economical than launching a ship from earth, and building in a reinforced shipyard on the moon is infinitely safer than orbital construction.

The moon would also be a good place to test terraforming theories once they have developed.

Really, there is little point to perfecting better propulsion until we've developed solid colonzing technologies.

[Revolution]

I agree with both your posts, Nav and Air.

As for Nav when your 15 and see that mofo launch, even 3 miles seems like a block away. I just guessed on the distance. Still the most awsome site you can see, IMO. I guess if you are right even 3 miles seems like you have Ring Side Seats.

As for Air, Yes there should be a base on the moon. Maybe we cannot do it now or the natives on the Dark Side Of The Moon dont like us(yea haha). Get the space station big and self suficient, and then build on the moon, and stretch out to Mars. Thats what I think we need to do.

Just watched Apollo 13, reminds me of NASA's beginning. Still a great flick. In tribute to the pros that didnt make it back :(

[Manitou]

The benefits of Space Exploration are tremendous. The fallout discoveries alone are enough to continue the research! Ever heard of velcro? You wouldn't have without space exploration. Some of our most usefull discoveries have been a result of trying to find better ways to send men to space.

Besides that, the increase in knowledge as far as new ways to construct crystals for better lasers, newer medicines that can only be perfected in weightlessness, etc.

Further in the future we can look at the prospect of mining the moon for natural resources. The moon is rich with deposits of all kinds of metals and ore.

The final note is for hope. If we give up now, we lose hope in our future and the hope of future generations to experience the wonder of the cosmos.

Let us support it.

If we do not, we place the efforts of those that have given the ultimate sacrifice on the refuse heap of forgotten goals and unreached accomplishments.

[Doobz]

the reason i think that the human race will never move on to earthlike planets somewhere out in deep space is because of the theory of relativity. suppose that we send a bunch of people to colonize some habitable deep space planet, they get there, its about maybe 1 year later to them. thanks to the theory of relativity (dont know the exact time translation formula, depends on speed and all that) its whole lot later on earth, perhaps hundreds of years. in those hundreds of years, the human race could have wiped itself clean on earth, or earth was hit by a space object, or regime changes have the earth under slave-like rule of a dictator who has no intent on supporting the colonists in any way? <--------- would make a good game btw if the colonists decided to see what happened to earth and end up in war with it or something

point is, it wouldnt be practical unless we discover someway of defeating the laws of physics

[Bighoss]

developing the Nuclear engine for a space craft and a new space craft is key for us going any further. I don't see the point of launching these old ones off to do the same missions over and over. We should sell them to Israel. They seem pretty eager to get into space. This stuff is important. Its like thousands of years ago when people first started to explore the ocean. no big break throughs for a long time. Then came over population. A huge desire for new lands and colonies. We explored and conquered the indians. I'm guessing eventaully we'll explore and conquer other life if it exists.

[Lexington_Steele]

We have been doing lots in space. As far as manned missions we have been building a space station.

As far as non manned missions, we have been extending our feelers deeper and deeper into space. We have had several missions to mars.

The only thing that would really make headline news is to have a manned mission to mars and we just haven't been able to do that yet. We are seriously trying to have a manned mission to mars by 2019.

Here is an example of alternate propulsion technology that Nasa is working on:
http://www.nasa.gov/extend/HP_ELT_Feature_03.html

[Airlift]

I disagree that current missions are not making big gains in science and tech. I further disagree that we should stop even if there were no big gains left in what we're doing, because it is a cumulative process. In the early days they needed to know things like what happens to your eyeballs when you leave the atmosphere. These days they are testing things that build on the knowledge that we learned before and the missions of the near future will build on what we're discovering today.

If we stopped all current progress, there would be a lot of things missing when we did come back with FTL Spacecraft.

And Doobz, I think that your argument is exactly why humanity must keep reaching for the stars. The idea is that we need escape the eventual extinction of human life on earth by colonizing other places in the universe.

[Bighoss]

COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO:cool2:

good info thanks:thumbsup:

[Hamma]

Airlift your post relating to the moon was great :D

As far as the current program, I dont personally think we are wasting our time. We are learning about construction in space - and studying the effects of space on the human body.

The problem is that it almost appears that is all we are doing, not attempting to move beyond that. Which we should be doing.

[Navaron]

From what I understand, the road they are on is full of baby steps. You can't move an inch further without learning these important things. Sure you could recklessly just start plugging away, but we DO have the luxury of time. Better safe than sorry.

[Toimu]

One big problem with manned space exploration is the effects of weightlessnesson the human body.

http://www.ibiblio.org/astrobiology/index.php?page=adapt02

The most obvious and simplest countermeasure is rigorous exercise. So untill they build a ship with gravity, we are stuck at were we are.

[Bighoss]

I say we make a huge space ship and put all the annoying celebrities on it and just send it to a black hole. Isn't that NASA's dream? or just mine:confused:

[Mtx]

I'd like to eject a lot of people into space. :D

[Tobias]

Its possiable to build ships with gravity now, just not ones that can re-enter the earths atmoshere, well more like space stations with gravity.

[Lexington_Steele]

Originally posted by Tobias
Its possiable to build ships with gravity now, just not ones that can re-enter the earths atmoshere, well more like space stations with gravity.

We can?

[Mtx]

SPINNERS!

[MrVicchio]

False Gravity, but yes, if we REALLY REALLY wanted too, we could do it.. just cost a SH!T LOAD.

[Lexington_Steele]

Originally posted by Mtx
SPINNERS!

Thats inertia. An then it only works at the outskirts of the ship.

A circular design to facilitate the inertia would be very wasteful of space, and wouldn't be exactly like gravity.

[Revolution]

Check out the making of Mission To Mars.