Paul F. Dietz ) wrote:
: Tom Cuddihy wrote:

: But you have to start somewhere. ESAS is what you call a 'baseline.'
: It's the fallback. If all the other budding space projects fall through
: completely, if SpaceX stalls after launching one or two Falcon 1s, if
: all of AirLaunch's test engines blow up and Blue Origin kills a family
: of 5 on their first suborbital joy ride, at least the ESAS will still
: be in progress, keeping the public interested in man's outward destiny,
: keeping at least a cadre of personnel knowledgeable in the issues of
: manned space launch, hopefully beyond LEO.

: Your argument makes no mention of the benefits of ESAS, or the costs.
: Your argument would apply no matter how high the costs, and no matter
: how meager the benefits. This is obviously nonsensical. Your argument
: proves too much to be valid.

: I take as proof #1 that NASA is not designing ESAS as a way to keep the
: commercial market out of the business:
:
: http://www.space.com/spacenews/busin...ay_051107.html

: I'm not claiming they are. What I am doubting is the worthiness of
: ESAS even in the absence of putative future alt.space capabilities.

: Don't forget Ferdinand and Isabella sent Columbus out to the Spice
: Islands by sailing west in 1492.

: Don't forget Columbus is an utterly bogus analogy for space exploration.

Bull****! It works just fine. Was there a commercial fishing industry in
Portugal in 1492? THAT is your commercial space program! What Columbus was
beyond the shores of Europe. The only thing bogus is your inability to see
the viability of the analogy.

Eric



: Paul