Human Space Exploration Nearing End

[x24val]

It's so incredibly sad, but with this latest round of criticism of NASA (safety issues) it seems we're nearing the end of exploration. When thousands of service men and women die, it's termed a great sacrifice for America, but we when lose one mission in the name of exploration every 20 or so years and it's called a tragedy. Pointed blame skewers the noble.<br />My last attempt to help fan the dying flame... http://chrisvalentines.com/sts107/videoessay.html<br />...and words for the myopic here... http://chrisvalentines.com/sts107/afopstory.html<br />

 

[askold]

Nah, it's not over - it's just taking a breather.<br /><br />Why does human space exploration have to proceed on an unbroken straight line? Right now we're in the golden age of robotic exploration. We have probes going everywhere!<br /><br />From all this, new technologies will be developed that will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of launch vehicles. Also, society's risk tolerance will change - post 9/11 we've all gotten kind of jumpy and cautious.<br /><br />There will be a new era of human space exploration - when the conditions are right.

 

[grooble]

You could say manned spaceflight is ahead of its time.

 

[x24val]

Selfishly, it's just a drag, because I'm clearly in the second half of my life and I'm not going to be able to witness new horizons crossed and conquered

 

[spacefire]

you should have said: NASA Human space exploration nearing an end.<br /><br />human space exploration will continue.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>http://asteroid-invasion.blogspot.com</p><p>http://www.solvengineer.com/asteroid-invasion.html </p><p> </p> </div>

 

[viper101]

NASA Human spaceflight is not ending. The US will NEVER sit back and allow themselves to be less than second in the next space race.<br /><br />Four words gurantee that Nasa will be in manned spaceflight for a long, long time:<br /><br />China on the Moon.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />/Canadian confident in southern neighbors space future...<br />

 

[spacefire]

riiight. China might get around the Moon, but never on. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>http://asteroid-invasion.blogspot.com</p><p>http://www.solvengineer.com/asteroid-invasion.html </p><p> </p> </div>

 

[lunatic133]

Something that I've seen again and again that annoys the living crackers out of me is that people equate the end of the shuttle with the end of human space exploration. That is not only innaccurate but stupid. The space shuttle is holding BACK human space exploration. Without the shuttle, NASA will be able to focus their manned spaceflight efforts on more important things, such as returning to the moon or landing humans on mars. The end of the shuttle will be the beginning, NOT the end. Furthermore, to give up and say that human exploration can wait for another day is to say that it will not happen ever. There will always be conflict in this world. There will always be reasons not to go, until it is too late. Unless we go now. Now is as good a time as any. Manned exploration will not die. There is always another way. There is the private industry. While only in its miniscule beginnings, it holds more promise than NASA has in decades. For that matter, even with the problems with the space shuttle, NASA itself shows more promise than it has in decades. For the first time, they actually have a destination in mind other than circling around endlessly. There is the threat of China surpassing our dominance in space exploration, putting our national pride, and possibly security, at stake. There is more involved here than just robots and the space shuttle. Remember that.

 

[le3119]

If you were one of the Wright Bros, we'd still be flapping our arms and diving off cliffs....

 

[gsuschrist]

"The US will NEVER sit back and allow themselves to be less than second in the next space race."<br /><br /> Just like the Romans are never second bananas militarily? Or the British will always be dominant on the seas?<br /><br /> The word 'never' is used too much. <br /><br />There 's a reasonable chance that NASA will not put a man into space for the next decade. It's almost certain that the USA via private entrepreneurs will put many small craft into space. The Chinese and Russians and private foreigners will also keep up the experimentation.<br /><br /><br /> Humans are much more than a bloated American government agency.<br />

 

[drwayne]

"Without the shuttle, NASA will be able to focus their manned spaceflight efforts on more important things, such as returning to the moon or landing humans on mars."<br /><br />I knw what you are saying, and, because it is in the future, I can not say you are wrong.<br /><br />Here is the "benefit" of my experience and "thinking". The dollars spent on the shuttle will not transfer to work on any successor. They will go to deficit reduction (yeah right) or pork or war.<br /><br />The reduced budget will not however mean that congress wil quit playing politics with the program. Congress, which has a collective attention span of a month or two - will keep changing its mind, keeping grandiose goals but not funding them - leading to a recipe of at best, spinning wheels, at worst, a three toed sloth designed by committee that costs too much, does too little, and has real safety issues.<br /><br />Yes, I am drawing on the post Apollo experience here.<br /><br />I may of course be completely wrong. If I am, and things work out, and hopefully I am alive to see it, I will join you in toasting to my utter stupidity.<br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>

 

[spacefire]

I think you're right. This administration has acted just how you described in various other issues, one of the most prominent one being the Iraq war. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>http://asteroid-invasion.blogspot.com</p><p>http://www.solvengineer.com/asteroid-invasion.html </p><p> </p> </div>

 

[tap_sa]

I doubt the end is nearing, quite the opposite. Things have been slo-mo recently but the pace will quicken. Btw the AFOP video is brilliant. I keep rewinding especially the part after Kennedys speech where things start to roll. Simply brilliant, conveys the spirit in the 60s when the pace was what it should be! The whole piece leaves a really nice feeling of hope. Make more and get that stuff on NASA TV and elsewhere to inspire the masses!

 

[wvbraun]

Actually manned spaceflight is in a better situation right now than at any time since the end of the Apollo program. The Space Shuttle will be gone in a few years and that's a good thing. The private sector is becoming more and more important and NASA is moving forward on implementing the Vision for Space Exploration. I really don't know where you got the idea that things are looking bad...

 

[thecolonel]

<i>Just like the Romans are never second bananas militarily? Or the British will always be dominant on the seas? </i><br /><br />This is a popular arguement for those that believe that the United States will soon be second fiddle in the superpower department. But simply put, it holds very little merit. The world is a completely different place today than that which allowed Britain and Rome to concede global leadership to other powers. The world is much less volatile than it was in those days, and additionally the United States is a much more adaptable State than any of the previous superpowers.<br /><br />This is displayed directly in the New Deal programs instituted by FDR. Programs that were based on socialism, but made to adapt a capitalist economy into a more viable and efficient model.<br /><br />Challenges will continue to come across the horizon, but the U.S. will continue to adapt and meet those challenges head on for the forseeable future, and space is no exception.

 

[drwayne]

I wonder how many have tears in their eyes when they hear:<br /><br />"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."<br /><br />I remember the first time I had a student whose birthday was such that she had never seen men walk on the moon....Now, we have people here who were not born when we heard "Roger, go at throttle up".<br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>

 

[lunatio_gordin]

You have no idea what i'd do to have been there.

 

[soccerguy789]

I wasn't even close to being born when Kennedy made his famus speech, but it stll inspires me to hear those words saying at one time, we as a people were willing to do something fantastic simply for the sake of bettering ourselves (I know there was the whole Cold War thing prompting it, but still) I hope to see man on the moon again. I see manned space exploration as currently seeing the calm before the storm. private suborbital: done , retiring the shuttle and all the political crap that goes with it: done, started down a new path for manned exploration: done (or at least in the process). I believ that manned space exploration is going to explode with the CEV. and private access to exp[lored areas will then explode with things like the CXV and other private ventures. even if I'm wrong and the bake will be a long one for the US. China is starting a space program, and Russia , dear old broke poor russian space prgram is building a new crew vehicle! but even if I'm wrong about THAT, this is still the big time for robotic exploration. let the rovers have thier spotlight, we'll be dusting martian sand off whats left of them soon enough.<br /><br />"Quit complaining and start a Revolution"

 

[dwilson]

I remember my father coming home from the cape the day the hatch wouldnt open and the fire burned and killed the astronauts. I had never seen my father cry. I was 9 years old. I later learned my dad worked in communications for Federal Electric and was a Quality Control Inspector.. I remember him telling mom he was listening in and it was the worse thing he had ever seen. But the solemn drive and determination that I witnessed from then on was one of overcoming failure and the desire to achieve beyond that disaster. The only time I saw him as sad about the space program was when they shut down the cape and discontinued the Apollo missions at 18.. he and my grandfather used to carpool with others all the way from New Smyrna Beach, (just south of Daytona) from 1964 until they were not needed anymore.. they drove over 100 miles a day roundtrip to work on one of the grandest operations in the world. I'm proud of them and the men and women like them that have sacrificed more than we can realize to allow us to be where we are today in the space program. So when I hear people say that the space program is so "messed up" and will not endure, it breaks my heart and cheapens the efforts of so many that have come before those that are in the seats today, the men and women with a vision that share a lifelong dream of overcoming incredible odds of succeeding in a field that so few understand. I am in awe of the human race. While watching "Walking with Cavemen" I realized we will never stop our exploration of outerspace, we can't, we are not made that way. We have to continue to explore unknown things we have found the edges of.. that's how we are.

 

[franson_space]

Why don't you guys set up a new thread to get all teary eyed about this that and the other. All you are doing is drawing attention to some drivel in the first post about being anti-American space industry.<br /><br />Amazing how you can get a lot of attention from crap if you write a good if unrelated subject title.<br /><br />Start a thread that is deserving of your memories as I can't believe you all keep posting it with this crap at the begining of the thread.

 

[dwilson]

lol your post is the only one that seems a waste.. or would you rather have us slide down your .5mm funnel? lol just talkin .. but critisism is the contrast vehicle often used to overcome obstacles and find success! Thanks for your contribution! lol

 

[JonClarke]

It is a back of history that major powers sooner or later become quaint tourist destitations. It has happened to every one power in history and there is no reason to suspect the US will be any different. It may not happen in our life time but it will happen. The EU already has an aggregate economy larger than the US, a larger civil aerospace industry, and a higher scientific output. Within a decade, on current trends, China will have a larger economy. Within three decades, so will India. These are facts, get used to them.<br /><br />So what? Human spaceflight is not and never has been the sole province of the US. I do hope that the US will continue to explore space on its own and in conjunction with others, but to think that the future of space exploration is going to be dominated by the US is risible. <br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[JonClarke]

spacefire wrote:<br /><br />"China might get around the Moon, but never on."<br /><br />Why in space not?<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[wvbraun]

"The EU already has an aggregate economy larger than the US, a larger civil aerospace industry, and a higher scientific output."<br /><br />Oh please. Most of the EU's national economies are in disarray, our aerospace industry is heavily subsidized and anti-science sentiments are widespread (the boycott of GM food is a good exapmle). The EU is not a superpower and never will be unless radical reforms are implemented. <br /><br /><br />"Within a decade, on current trends, China will have a larger economy." <br /><br />Will have? Could have - if current trends continue. There might be a revolution in China or a depression.

 

[kdavis007]

My response can't be posted on the board. It would violate the posting guidlines..