The US Space program is PATHETIC

What would you have them do?


Go back and watch some episodes of Star Trek and get back to me
 
Would that we spend some substantial fraction of the money we currently waste on other things, on NASA.

Now reaching for the stars actually IS a good thing to invest in.

What we've learned when we were striving for the stars has changed the quality of our lives here on earth for the better.

Our communications system depend on what we know thanks to NASA, our ability to understand the earth we share depends on satellites.
 
On August 18, 2006, NASA announced that the company was one of two selected to provide crew and cargo resupply demonstration contracts to the International Space Station (ISS) under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. SpaceX will demonstrate crew and cargo resupply using the SpaceX Dragon, a conventional blunt-cone ballistic capsule, which is capable of carrying 7 people or a mixture of personnel and cargo to and from low Earth orbit.[37] It will be launched atop a Falcon 9 vehicle. The nose cone of the vehicle has a hinged cap, which opens to reveal a standard ISS Common Berthing Mechanism, which allows the Dragon to dock to the U.S. segment of the ISS. NASA's plan calls for SpaceX demonstration flights between 2008 and 2010. SpaceX may receive up to $278 million if it meets all NASA milestones.[38][39][40]

First flight of a structural test article of the Dragon took place June 4, 2010, from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station during the maiden flight of the Falcon 9. Though the mock-up Dragon lacked avionics, heat shield, and other key elements,[41] an operational Dragon spacecraft was launched on December 8, 2010 aboard the second flight of the Falcon 9, and returned to Earth after two orbits
SpaceX - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WASHINGTON (AP) — NASA says it will flight test its Orion crew space capsule three years earlier than planned.

The capsule will replace the retired space shuttle fleet. It will eventually be used to take four astronauts to nearby asteroids, the moon or Mars.

The first unmanned test flight of the capsule is now set for 2014 and will be on a commercial rocket. Originally, NASA was going to wait until 2017 when its own large rocket would be ready to launch a test of Orion.

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After a drive across the country, a Dragon spaceship, designed and built by SpaceX, Elon Musk's aerospace company, arrived in Florida for launch on a mission to prove the private sector has the right stuff to take over a traditional government role of flying in orbit.

Dragon, which will be launched aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from a revamped launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, will be carrying food, water and other non-essential supplies the International Space Station (ISS). The cargo needs to be "non-essential" because if Dragon doesn't make it through a series of in-orbit tests, it won’t be cleared for docking at the station, tentatively targeted for four days after launch.
SpaceX Dragon 2 Arrives at Launch Site : Discovery News

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Boeing is taking over one of NASA's old space shuttle hangars to build a new capsule that the company hopes will lift astronauts to orbit in four or five years
Boeing signs lease for space shuttle hangar - Technology & science - Space - msnbc.com

Virgin Galactic is a company within Richard Branson's Virgin Group which plans to provide sub-orbital spaceflights to the paying public, along with suborbital space science missions and orbital launches of small satellites. Further in the future Virgin Galactic hopes to offer orbital human spaceflights as well.
Virgin Galactic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

While I agree it's shameful that NASA did not develop a follow-on the Space Shuttle in the 25 year time window it had to do so, and still further it was not ready to fly once the Shuttle was retired. That said, there is going on under the radar an American Renaissance going on in the Space program and Space X in Jan. or Feb will return to the ISS with an American built spacecraft to resupply the ISS. In the next 3 years our nation will have multiple sources for manned space flight as well as launch capabilites where we once had only one. In fact with the Falcon 9 Heavy that is being made ready for launch at Vandenberg AFB it will be the largest rockect since the Saturn V and will be able to lift twice the payload of the Space Shuttle and the Delta IV Heavy. So no, while the space program may appear to be in somewhat of a slump at the moment nothing could be further from the truth, however given the fact that NASA had let the Shuttle die before a replacement was in place I can see where anyone would feel that way as our nation has no manned capability at the moment.
 

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