Shuttle comming down.

[SkinsOrlando]

Oh boy, didn't want to open Pandora's box by getting involved in a budget discussion.

Let's scrap the shuttle program for just a moment. Where does NASA go with space exploration? Do we send manned rockets back up which take us further into space? Do we get back into lunar landings and further exploring the moon? Do we send up robots(which results haven't been to outstanding)? What is the next move?

Personally, I would love to see manned rocket missions resume with a scheduled return to the moon, there is still so much there Apollo never got to discover IMO.

[Pete]

Did anyone else see the video on NASATV of the boosters being jettisoned?

They had a camera attached to one booster and it broadcast from release to splashdown, angled down so you could see the ocean. Cool stuff.

I started this thread the other day with little response.......

i can't wait until the private sector really takes over space exploration. things will get cheap FAST.

Ya, that's when we get to see more people get killed because of rushing the point.

[HSW]

All of NASA's spaceflight operations, when added together, comprise about three quarters of one percent of the country's discretionary budget.

NASA as an entire entity, including non-space applications, uses 2% of the discretionary budget.

And that total budget number doesn't even count the absolutely massive non-discretionary stuff like Social Security, etc. So the real percentages of total spending are even smaller.

Things larger than all of NASA's space flight operations put together:

- Missile defense (150% the size)

- IRS (170% the size)

- Border security (270% the size)

Talk about your largely ineffectual larger targets.

The Space Shuttle's time is just about over, but there's plenty of more worthwhile work to be done by future systems.

Trying to "reprioritize" by cutting or killing NASA is like trying to clean up your entire desk by meticulously arranging a single box of paper clips.

Yeah, billions don't matter when trillons are getting wasted....nice

logic there. I mean billions are basically nothing. Without a link to

your stats page, they are worthless, you can basically pull numbers

out of a garabage can these days. Comparing Missile Defense, IRS,

and Border Security missions to what the shuttle and NASA is doing

is a joke. I could use a meaningless analogy but...

[PokerPacker]

I started this thread the other day with little response.......

Ya, that's when we get to see more people get killed because of rushing the point.

i don't mean cheap parts, but when technology hits the private sector, it becomes quick and cheap to produce. no more beaurocrocy to have to deal with. its just simpler.

[HSW]

I started this thread the other day with little response.......

Ya, that's when we get to see more people get killed because of rushing the point.

Not true. Almost every non war cricitcal aspect of the DoD has been getting converted to the private sector. That includes missile operations and

research. They can do it far cheaper and are able to perform at a very

high level. It is a budgetary necessity.

[DjTj]

i can't wait until the private sector really takes over space exploration. things will get cheap FAST.

Exploration will never be taken over by the private sector. Exploring, from ancient civilization to colonial times and the present, has always been a function of government because the economic returns are remote.

What we'll soon have though is a commercial space launch industry. Many payloads today are commercial in nature, be they DirecTV, Sirius Satellite Radio, or the dozens of communications satellites we have never heard of. That industry should be turned over the private sector in the near future, and a space tourism industry could follow.

Science and exploration will remain the province of NASA.

I hear you. NASA used to be a huge source of pride for our country.

It has slipped real bad. Most folks do not care anymore because

they realize that they are just doing the same thing over and over

again. A shuttle mission used to be huge...we would watch it in

school. Not just in the science dept...the whole school. Now it

barely rates a min or two on the news.

When they invented the car, it was something everyone fawned over ... I'm sure the same thing happenned when man discovered fire. Just because it's not new and shiny doesn't mean it has slipped. It probably means that we have made progress.

Plenty of people do care, and just because your schoolboy days are over doesn't mean kids in school today don't learn how to spot the International Space Station in the sky, that they don't have textbooks with photos from the Hubble Space Telescope, or that they aren't still excited if they get a chance to meet an astronaut.

Hopefully, Congress doesn't make decisions based on how many headlines they can generate, and they act in the best interests of the country in keeping the United States at the forefront of space exploration.

[21KO]

I started this thread the other day with little response.......

That's the one - I came in right after jettison. Great launch angle.

[Pete]

i don't mean cheap parts, but when technology hits the private sector, it becomes quick and cheap to produce. no more beaurocrocy to have to deal with. its just simpler.

Not true. Almost every non war cricitcal aspect of the DoD has been getting converted to the private sector. That includes missile operations and

research. They can do it far cheaper and are able to perform at a very

high level. It is a budgetary necessity.

The way I see it is, the private sector can shoot off all the payload bearing stuff that needs to go up, and build all the weapons they want. I just don't see the private sector being as stringent with maned flights as NASA can be due to the costs to do so.

[HSW]

Exploration will never be taken over by the private sector. Exploring, from ancient civilization to colonial times and the present, has always been a function of government because the economic returns are remote.

What we'll soon have though is a commercial space launch industry. Many payloads today are commercial in nature, be they DirecTV, Sirius Satellite Radio, or the dozens of communications satellites we have never heard of. That industry should be turned over the private sector in the near future, and a space tourism industry could follow.

Science and exploration will remain the province of NASA.

When they invented the car, it was something everyone fawned over ... I'm sure the same thing happenned when man discovered fire. Just because it's not new and shiny doesn't mean it has slipped. It probably means that we have made progress.

Plenty of people do care, and just because your schoolboy days are over doesn't mean kids in school today don't learn how to spot the International Space Station in the sky, that they don't have textbooks with photos from the Hubble Space Telescope, or that they aren't still excited if they get a chance to meet an astronaut.

Hopefully, Congress doesn't make decisions based on how many headlines they can generate, and they act in the best interests of the country in keeping the United States at the forefront of space exploration.

I stand by what I say and feel that most people would agree. Shuttle

launches are nowhere near the story or event that they used to be.

As far as progress goes...I would not exactly call the shuttle program

from the last two decades a huge success. As a matter of fact it has

been far from it. Most folks were just scared to death that every

launch would end up being a flamming ball of death for most of the

last two decades. I never said that space stations and the shuttle

are not interesting to kids or taught in schools anymore, as a matter

of fact that whole paragraph of your post came out of your own

imagination because I never said any of it.

[HSW]

The way I see it is, the private sector can shoot off all the payload bearing stuff that needs to go up, and build all the weapons they want. I just don't see the private sector being as stringent with maned flights as NASA can be due to the costs to do so.

It would be the same people. They would just outsource the jobs

and then the govt folks would hire on with the new contractors.

It is cheaper for the govt because they would save a fortune on

human resource costs, pensions, etc, etc. The private sector

already runs cradle-to-grave programs for stealth aircrafts and

missiles. They would do just fine with the space program.

[SUNSTONE]

Just heard the sonic booms.

I didn't hear it! :mad:

Damn it I live 10 miles from nasa.

[DjTj]

I stand by what I say and feel that most people would agree. Shuttle launches are nowhere near the story or event that they used to be.

but that's a good thing, isn't it? Wasn't the goal of the space shuttle to make space travel a more regular occurence? :whoknows:

As far as progress goes...I would not exactly call the shuttle program

from the last two decades a huge success. As a matter of fact it has

been far from it. Most folks were just scared to death that every

launch would end up being a flamming ball of death for most of the

last two decades.

So people did not pay attention, yet were scared to death ... and if you think there hasn't been progress or success, you must have missed this:

and this:

...and not to mention the first non-government individuals to go into space, carrying 294 individuals into space and back (which is more than half the total number of people who have ever been in space), and flying 113 successful missions over 25 years - a much longer timespan than the shuttle was ever designed for.

I never said that space stations and the shuttle are not interesting to kids or taught in schools anymore, as a matter of fact that whole paragraph of your post came out of your own imagination because I never said any of it.

So if people are still interested in the space program, why are you opposed to continued funding?

[HSW]

but that's a good thing, isn't it? Wasn't the goal of the space shuttle to make space travel a more regular occurence? :whoknows:

So people did not pay attention, yet were scared to death ... and if you think there hasn't been progress or success, you must have missed this:

...and not to mention the first non-government individuals to go into space, carrying 294 individuals into space and back (which is more than half the total number of people who have ever been in space), and flying 113 successful missions over 25 years - a much longer timespan than the shuttle was ever designed for.

So if people are still interested in the space program, why are you opposed to continued funding?

I would not call what we are doing now "space travel". Technically yes,

but not really.

People are interested in a lot of things. I just feel we have better stuff

to invest our money and scientific talents towards. Stuff that will

come to a crisis point in the near future.