Can the Russians do it?

[juliemac]

I just read this:<br />http://www.space.com/news/ap_060412_russia_moon.html<br />Russians on the moon by 2015, the US there 5 years later. I think they can do it.<br />Now if the Govt would get off thier collective a**es and let NASA etal get started we could be there before then.<br />I am SOOOOO disgusted with the govt and their priorities.... The US is no longer a leader in any thing, well except consumption... Give our children some thing to dream about!<br />Sorry about the rant.....

 

[lbiderman]

Definetely russian technology is cheaper than American, but I don't think they can pull this out. Clipper will be done, perhaps the circumlunar missions with the Soyuz and the Block DM, but landing on the moon is a gigant feat, even more to do it in less than 9 years. They would need a lot, a LOT of money to make it happen.

 

[thinice]

From what I heard on a local radio station, the head of Roskosmos said in an interview recently, that they were not interested in Moon research at all. So any talks about Russian circumlunar flights, etc, etc are just private proposals that will go nowhere without government money.

 

[spayss]

True. Why would Russia expend resources on a Moon mission.? In the last decade the press always picks up on some sliver of 'Russian Plans' to do this or that in Space. Just bad reporters doing poor reporting.

 

[john_316]

Unless Russia is willing to lead they will just follow as per usual. But hey they are flying more than we are in manned flights...<br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />Until Virgin Galactic gets flyin!!!!<br /><br />

 

[no_way]

These guys promised to be on Mars before the decade is out: http://cruiser.ru/eng/news-01.php As for real launched hardware ... <blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p> December 25, 2005 Dear Friends! The start period of satellites AKS-1 and AKS-2 is delayed for March-July, 2006.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote> They were originally planning to launch these test articles at the end of 2004 ...

 

[jtkirk1701]

isn't china and russia working together on the china rockets and missions?

 

[edkyle98]

"Russians on the moon by 2015, the US there 5 years <br />later. I think they can do it. Now if the Govt would get off <br />thier collective a**es and let NASA etal get started we <br />could be there before then. "<br /><br />The U.S., in the form of living, breathing astronauts, has <br />already been there, way before anyone else. That race <br />is over.<br /><br /> - Ed Kyle<br /><br /><br />

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>isn't china and russia working together on the china rockets and missions?<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Definitely not. China and Russia have not had a good political relationship for decades. Early on in the space race, the Soviet Union sold some rocket boosters and Soyuz hardware to China, but the once-friendly communist bloc relationship crumbled quickly. I believe Russia did sell them some Soyuz-related stuff following the collapse of the Soviet Union, but it was a purely commercial relationship. China isn't working with anybody on their space program. It's a matter of national pride. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[qso1]

edkyle98:<br />The U.S., in the form of living, breathing astronauts, has <br />already been there, way before anyone else. That race <br />is over.<br /><br />Me:<br />Especially since we are the only ones to have sent people there. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[revolutionary]

qso,<br /><br />Are you familiar with Aesop's Fable, The Tortoise and the Hare?

 

[revolutionary]

lbiderman,<br />why? the US has already shown them how to do it.

 

[barrykirk]

In this case we won the the first race, so were sleeping through the second one?<br /><br />It may ring true.

 

[qso1]

Absolutely. But we already won the moon race. We don't need to win another. Want U.S. leadership in space? We need to show the rest of the world we can industrialize space, reduce the cost of accessing it, and do permanent occupation in the form of lunar and mars bases.<br /><br />IMO, the public will not buy into another moon race with Russia. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[barrykirk]

Maybe what killed Apollo was not only that we had won the race, but that the Russians opted out of the race.<br /><br />What would have happened if in August 1969, a Russian LSAM landed and returned some cosmonauts?<br /><br />If they had kept going, would we have kept going?<br /><br />I suspect that this time around, the Chinese are in it for the long haul. Hopefully, this will drag us into it for the long haul.<br />

 

[barrykirk]

My bad, I forgot that this thread was about Russia and not China....<br /><br />But, China is talking about going to the moon and they definitly CAN do it.

 

[radarredux]

> <i><font color="yellow">The U.S., in the form of living, breathing astronauts, has already been there, way before anyone else. That race is over.</font>/i><br /><br />But that was yesterday's generation. AFAIK America has no active astronauts who have walked on the Moon. Furthermore, there is (sadly) a real possibility that we will enter a time when there are no humans alive that have walked on the Moon.<br /><br />For my money, the real race is to return to the Moon before the last Moon Walker dies.</i>

 

[radarredux]

> <i><font color="yellow">Maybe what killed Apollo was not only that we had won the race, but that the Russians opted out of the race.</font>/i><br /><br />That is probably an accurate statement. Had the Russians been active at building an outpost on the Moon, I don't think the US would have turned their backs on the Moon.</i>

 

[zenpunk]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>But, China is talking about going to the moon and they definitly CAN do it.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Ha ha ha, what on Earth or in space would make you think the Chinese can do it if Russia can't? They don't have a tenth of the space ops experience or infrastructure of Russia.

 

[radarredux]

> <i><font color="yellow">what on Earth or in space would make you think the Chinese can do it if Russia can't?</font>/i><br /><br />They have <i><b>momentum</b></i> in economic growth, engineering growth, and their space program. Their space program also has strong political support, probably stronger than America's or Russia's.</i>

 

[baktothemoon]

They have momentum now, but every economy goes bust at some point, ours did in the 30's, Soviet's did before it collapsed. If China tried to have a space program and build an N1 clone or Saturn V knockoff it would burst the bubble. They have no where near the know how, workmanship, or the resources to do it. In the 60's both us and the Soviets were launching a few manned missions a year. The Chinese have done two two years apart, and the next one is hardly a blip on the radar. And as far as political support, Communism can give their space program all the support they want, but they also get all the bureaucracy and interference. The same thing will happen in China that happened in Russia: the Communist government will make their space program one huge political white elephant, it will interfere with everything they try to do, their moon rocket will be a hyper over budget firework, and they will never be able to accomplish anything since everything they do will be in response to what we have already done. China has a snowball in hell's chance of getting to the moon with a government that will micromanage their space program to death, or to Russia's level. Besides, China does not have the economic resources or money to devote to a space program as big as Apollo. I have a friend who has been to China, with poor people everywhere and most of the population making less than one buck an hour, do you think that the populace cares about a space program or that they can dedicate almost thirty billion dollars a year to have an Apollo like program? Not a chance. If Russia couldn't than China doesn't stand a chance. <br /><br />"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." John F. Kennedy

 

[j05h]

> ... the head of Roskosmos said in an interview recently, that they were not interested in Moon research at all.<br /><br />Of course not, they are mostly interested in Phobos and Mars. (in that order, it seems) <br /><br />could Russia land people on the moon in 9 years? Not without massive private (billionaire) support. Would they do it? Maybe, if the money was good enough. Would they rather use those resources to put a manned orbiter co-orbital with Phobos? Yes. <br /><br />Josh <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div align="center"><em>We need a first generation of pioneers.</em><br /></div> </div>

 

[egom]

Now the russians have a very capitalist view of the world...meaning that they are doing research and improvements for those domains that are to generate some income in the 'near' future.<br /><br />I personally see Russia as the no 1 space power in like 10 years. Think at this: 2000 years ago the ROman empire was dominating the 'known earth'. In the 80s SUA was dominating the space, but nothing is forever. <br /><br />EgoM

 

[mooware]

<font color="yellow">Ha ha ha, what on Earth or in space would make you think the Chinese can do it if Russia can't? </font><br /><br />They have the drive to do it. I wouldn't under-estimate them.<br />