Armstrong lauds another spaceman

In article ,
Gene DiGennaro wrote:
...If only the general public better understood Apollo's accomplishments...

Wouldn't really make a lot of difference. The general public already
thinks spaceflight is neat; they just don't think it's worth a whole lot
of money. This is fundamental, and will not change.

Turning the general populace into space enthusiasts *will not happen*, and
plans which assume that it will are pointless fantasies. The only way to
get to (say) Mars is to lower the cost to the point that overwhelming
public enthusiasm is not required.
--
"Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend." | Henry Spencer
-- George Herbert |

"Rusty Barton" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 05 Sep 2004 13:22:13 -0500, Kevin Willoughby
wrote:

In article ,
says...
Neil Armstrong [...] said:
I have ridden on 13 different rocket engines

I can't match that number:

by type:
X-1b
X-15
Titan-II first stage
Titan-II second stage
Agena (well, it was planned....)
S-IC
S-II
S-IVB (I'm being generous, both S-II and S-IVB used J-2s)
Apollo SPS
LM Descent
LM Assent
That's 11.

By number:
1 X-1b
1 X-15
2 Titan II first stage
2 Titan II second stage
5 F-1s
5 J-2s
1 J-2
1 SPS
1 LM Descent
1 LM Ascent
That sum is too high even counting just the moon flight.

Assuming Armstrong is correct [sic!], what am I missing?



and had the privilege of commanding three
different types of spacecraft,

Why not count the X-15? (Yes, Armstrong never took it to 100 km, but it
could reach space.)


Gemini OAMS?

Apollo CM & LM RCS?

LLRV had small rocket engines.

The rocket in the ejection seat when he
ejected from the LLRV.

- Rusty Barton

Too bad the DynaSoar was never finished .. he would have that one on the
list !

gb

In article ,
says...
Too bad the DynaSoar was never finished .. he would have that one on the
list !

If X-20 had flown, we might not remember Armstrong today. If he stayed
with DynaSoar, he would have missed Gemini-8, so wouldn't have been
assigned to an early Apollo lunar mission.
--
Kevin Willoughby lid

Imagine that, a FROG ON-OFF switch, hardly the work
for test pilots. -- Mike Collins

On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 12:22:43 -0500, (Henry
Spencer) wrote:

In article ,
Gene DiGennaro wrote:
...If only the general public better understood Apollo's accomplishments...

Wouldn't really make a lot of difference. The general public already
thinks spaceflight is neat; they just don't think it's worth a whole lot
of money. This is fundamental, and will not change.

I wouldn't even say that, I think that the general public just over
estimate the amount of money spent on space today and as a result
don't think we should spend a lot more on it. Doesn't really help when
people start quoting 100 billion dollar price tags for ISS and
trillion dollar mars missions.

Kelly McDonald

Turning the general populace into space enthusiasts *will not happen*, and
plans which assume that it will are pointless fantasies. The only way to
get to (say) Mars is to lower the cost to the point that overwhelming
public enthusiasm is not required.

"Kelly McDonald kellymcdonald@" ;
wrote in message
...
I wouldn't even say that, I think that the general public just over
estimate the amount of money spent on space today and as a result
don't think we should spend a lot more on it. Doesn't really help when
people start quoting 100 billion dollar price tags for ISS and
trillion dollar mars missions.

While the public may overestimate the total amount of money spent by NASA
each year, when they read news articles that quote the total cost of the ISS
program, many feel that the total amount spent on ISS is a waste. This goes
for other programs as well (like the Genesis mission that cost hundreds of
millions of dollars to put a crater in the desert).

Jeff
--
Remove icky phrase from email address to get a valid address.

In sci.space.history Jeff Findley wrote:
"Kelly McDonald kellymcdonald@" ;
wrote in message
...
I wouldn't even say that, I think that the general public just over
estimate the amount of money spent on space today and as a result
don't think we should spend a lot more on it. Doesn't really help when
people start quoting 100 billion dollar price tags for ISS and
trillion dollar mars missions.

While the public may overestimate the total amount of money spent by NASA
each year, when they read news articles that quote the total cost of the ISS
program, many feel that the total amount spent on ISS is a waste. This goes
for other programs as well (like the Genesis mission that cost hundreds of
millions of dollars to put a crater in the desert).

Jeff
--
Remove icky phrase from email address to get a valid address.

Keep in mind that each of these people is thinking "What I could do with these
hundreds of millions of dollars", and conveniently forgetting that there are
(in the US, at least) some 280 million people thinking the same thing, and that
if the price tag were split among them, they would see a windfall of about $5,
wich won't even buy a pack of cigarettes, anymore...

And sorry about the email, Jeff. I hit the wrong key when replying. (Hagbard
hangs a "Kick Me" sign on his back...).

Hagbard

--
Only the madman understands the world.
It is because he understands that he is mad.

FnordNet - http://www.fnordnet.net

(Henry Spencer) wrote:

:In article ,
:Gene DiGennaro wrote:
:...If only the general public better understood Apollo's accomplishments...
:
:Wouldn't really make a lot of difference. The general public already
:thinks spaceflight is neat; they just don't think it's worth a whole lot
f money. This is fundamental, and will not change.
:
:Turning the general populace into space enthusiasts *will not happen*, and
lans which assume that it will are pointless fantasies. The only way to
:get to (say) Mars is to lower the cost to the point that overwhelming
ublic enthusiasm is not required.

Which essentially says that it will never happen, Henry, since you
have to start going there before there is an incentive to lower the
cost of going there.

It is, after all, always cheaper to not go than to go.

Personally, I hope you're wrong.

--
"Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute."
-- Charles Pinckney

[note follow-ups]

Fred J. McCall wrote:

(Henry Spencer) wrote:

:In article ,
:Gene DiGennaro wrote:
:...If only the general public better understood Apollo's accomplishments...
:
:Wouldn't really make a lot of difference. The general public already
:thinks spaceflight is neat; they just don't think it's worth a whole lot
f money. This is fundamental, and will not change.
:
:Turning the general populace into space enthusiasts *will not happen*, and
lans which assume that it will are pointless fantasies. The only way to
:get to (say) Mars is to lower the cost to the point that overwhelming
ublic enthusiasm is not required.

Which essentially says that it will never happen, Henry, since you
have to start going there before there is an incentive to lower the
cost of going there.

It is, after all, always cheaper to not go than to go.

Personally, I hope you're wrong.

No. There isn't an overwhelming public support for suborbital flights.
Yet suborbital flights have recently become an existing business.
The same can happen for Mars travel. More likely, it will be the
suborbital flights business that will slowly evolve into a broader
space flight business.

Alain Fournier

Fred J. McCall wrote:

Which essentially says that it will never happen, Henry, since you
have to start going there before there is an incentive to lower the
cost of going there.

Nonsense. Many many things have become affordable because
of advances not specifically directed at those things.

Paul

Alain Fournier wrote:

[note follow-ups]

Fred J. McCall wrote:

(Henry Spencer) wrote:

:In article ,
:Gene DiGennaro wrote:
:...If only the general public better understood Apollo's
accomplishments...
:
:Wouldn't really make a lot of difference. The general public already
:thinks spaceflight is neat; they just don't think it's worth a whole
lot
f money. This is fundamental, and will not change.
:
:Turning the general populace into space enthusiasts *will not
happen*, and
lans which assume that it will are pointless fantasies. The only
way to
:get to (say) Mars is to lower the cost to the point that overwhelming
ublic enthusiasm is not required.
Which essentially says that it will never happen, Henry, since you
have to start going there before there is an incentive to lower the
cost of going there.

It is, after all, always cheaper to not go than to go.

Personally, I hope you're wrong.


No. There isn't an overwhelming public support for suborbital flights.
Yet suborbital flights have recently become an existing business.
The same can happen for Mars travel. More likely, it will be the
suborbital flights business that will slowly evolve into a broader
space flight business.

Alain Fournier

After Columbus discovered America, most Spanish explorers
were motivated by the search of gold. If there were something
extremely valuable in outer space (I think there is) then space
travel is only a question of time.