orogenicman
Darwin was a pastafarian
- Jul 24, 2013
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For some reason, that other thread was closed will I was in the middle of a response, and wasn't given a chance to post.
Folks, I don't know what you guys expected after Apollo, but the fact is that near the end of the program, public support went belly up, as it was apparent we had achieved our cold war goals three times over. And remember, Apollo was, for all intents and purposes, a cold war project. Add to that the very high cost of the program and the fact that we were fighting a very costly war in Vietnam, and it became apparent to everyone that it's days were numbered.
And I completely disagree with the notion that we aren't doing great things in space. We are in space RIGHT NOW. And have been continuously (24/7) since 2001. Before we go island hopping from planetary body to planetary body, or even build a colony somewhere (say, the Moon or Mars), we must first learn how to safely live in space. We aren't there yet. Radiation is a significant obstacle to long-term spaceflight. The Van Allen belts, cosmic rays and radiation from the sun are significant issues we have to learn how to address before we make any long term human commitments in space. We've built this new spacecraft that I think will do some incredible things eventually, and are working on a new heavy lift vehicle that will give us significant capabilities. What we haven't yet addressed is how to live in space while travelling somewhere (habitation module), how to land a man-rated vehicle on the surface (descent vehicle) of a significant body other than the Moon, how to live on a surface (another habitation module), and how to get off a surface (ascent vehicle) other than the Moon with a man-rated vehicle. These are all very significant engineering issues that must be meshed out. 20 years (mid 2030s) to go to Mars may sound like a lot of time, but considering the goals and the challenges those goals have laid at our feet, it isn't. It really isn't.
And the space station, as unglamorous as that is to a lot of people, is helping us with a lot of that and more. The research being done there today is groundbreaking, Yes, NASA isn't moving at Apollo speed with many of it's programs. But then, we aren't in a race with anyone, either. The days of blank checks at NASA have been over for decades, folks, and I doubt that you will ever see that again. But we are making progress, so give them a little credit for the accomplishments they have made with the budget that has been handed to them. Okay? What we are doing in space these days is real breakthrough science. Who else has landed multiple rovers on Mars? Who else has sent multiple probes to Jupiter and Saturn? Who else has sent probes to Uranus and Neptune? Who else has sent probes to Pluto, and possibly other destinations in the Kuiper belt? Who else has a probe around Mercury? Who else has sent probes outside of the solar system? NASA doesn't get the credit it deserves. It is high time they did. Instead of whining about it, how about supporting them?
Folks, I don't know what you guys expected after Apollo, but the fact is that near the end of the program, public support went belly up, as it was apparent we had achieved our cold war goals three times over. And remember, Apollo was, for all intents and purposes, a cold war project. Add to that the very high cost of the program and the fact that we were fighting a very costly war in Vietnam, and it became apparent to everyone that it's days were numbered.
And I completely disagree with the notion that we aren't doing great things in space. We are in space RIGHT NOW. And have been continuously (24/7) since 2001. Before we go island hopping from planetary body to planetary body, or even build a colony somewhere (say, the Moon or Mars), we must first learn how to safely live in space. We aren't there yet. Radiation is a significant obstacle to long-term spaceflight. The Van Allen belts, cosmic rays and radiation from the sun are significant issues we have to learn how to address before we make any long term human commitments in space. We've built this new spacecraft that I think will do some incredible things eventually, and are working on a new heavy lift vehicle that will give us significant capabilities. What we haven't yet addressed is how to live in space while travelling somewhere (habitation module), how to land a man-rated vehicle on the surface (descent vehicle) of a significant body other than the Moon, how to live on a surface (another habitation module), and how to get off a surface (ascent vehicle) other than the Moon with a man-rated vehicle. These are all very significant engineering issues that must be meshed out. 20 years (mid 2030s) to go to Mars may sound like a lot of time, but considering the goals and the challenges those goals have laid at our feet, it isn't. It really isn't.
And the space station, as unglamorous as that is to a lot of people, is helping us with a lot of that and more. The research being done there today is groundbreaking, Yes, NASA isn't moving at Apollo speed with many of it's programs. But then, we aren't in a race with anyone, either. The days of blank checks at NASA have been over for decades, folks, and I doubt that you will ever see that again. But we are making progress, so give them a little credit for the accomplishments they have made with the budget that has been handed to them. Okay? What we are doing in space these days is real breakthrough science. Who else has landed multiple rovers on Mars? Who else has sent multiple probes to Jupiter and Saturn? Who else has sent probes to Uranus and Neptune? Who else has sent probes to Pluto, and possibly other destinations in the Kuiper belt? Who else has a probe around Mercury? Who else has sent probes outside of the solar system? NASA doesn't get the credit it deserves. It is high time they did. Instead of whining about it, how about supporting them?