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Worth The Mission?



 
 
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  #11  
Old June 30th 06, 07:36 PM posted to sci.space.policy,sci.space.moderated
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Rand Simberg ) wrote:
: My thoughts on whether or not to fly Shuttle, and the cult of
: astronaut worship:

: http://article.nationalreview.com/?q...UxNjE5MjM1OTE=

Why am I not surprised it is on the National Review? Okay, to the
article...

Eric

  #12  
Old June 30th 06, 07:40 PM posted to sci.space.policy,sci.space.moderated
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On Fri, 30 Jun 2006 14:36:41 -0400, in a place far, far away,
(Eric Chomko) made the phosphor on my
monitor glow in such a way as to indicate that:

Rand Simberg ) wrote:
: My thoughts on whether or not to fly Shuttle, and the cult of
: astronaut worship:

:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q...UxNjE5MjM1OTE=

Why am I not surprised it is on the National Review?


I would never try to imagine why you're surprised at anything, Eric.
I'm surprised that you can find your way out of bed each morning.

  #13  
Old June 30th 06, 07:59 PM posted to sci.space.policy,sci.space.moderated
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On Fri, 30 Jun 2006 14:40:00 -0400, in a place far, far away,
h (Rand Simberg) made the phosphor on my
monitor glow in such a way as to indicate that:

Rand Simberg ) wrote:
: My thoughts on whether or not to fly Shuttle, and the cult of
: astronaut worship:

:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q...UxNjE5MjM1OTE=

Why am I not surprised it is on the National Review?


I would never try to imagine why you're surprised at anything, Eric.
I'm surprised that you can find your way out of bed each morning.


Errr...assuming that you actually do...

  #14  
Old June 30th 06, 08:16 PM posted to sci.space.policy,sci.space.moderated
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Jeff Findley ) wrote:
: "Rand Simberg" wrote in message
: ...
: My thoughts on whether or not to fly Shuttle, and the cult of
: astronaut worship:
:
: http://article.nationalreview.com/?q...UxNjE5MjM1OTE=

: I think you're on the right track he

: What upset people so much about the deaths in Columbia,
: I think, was not that they died, but that they died in
: such a seemingly trivial yet expensive pursuit. They
: weren't exploring the universe-they were boring a multi-
: hundred-thousand-mile-long hole in the vacuum a couple
: hundred miles above the planet, with children's science-
: fair experiments. We were upset because space isn't
: important, and we considered the astronauts' lives more
: important than the mission. If they had been exploring
: another hostile, alien planet, and died, we would have
: been saddened, but not shocked - it happens in the
: movies all the time.

: It happens in history as well. We lost Grissom, White, and Chaffee on the
: ground, yet everyone was determined to fix the problems and move foreword
: with Apollo. They were heroes, pursuing the goal of landing a man on the
: moon in a race with the Soviets.

: For some reason, this generation seems to be rediscovering heroes. I'm sure
: 9/11 was a huge wake up call that helped start this movement. But today,
: astronauts are still regarded as heroes, but they certainly seem to lack a
: heroic goal. Going round and round in LEO isn't it. Even going back to the
: moon isn't it (been there, done that, thirty-seven years ago).

: My question is this, is it even possible for NASA to find a truly heroic
: goal for our heroic astronauts?

It begs the question of finding real value in ISS and not just using it as
a hotel and a life support center.

At least with HST we are getting science.

Eric

: Jeff
: --
: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a
: little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor
: safety"
: - B. Franklin, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (1919)


: .

  #15  
Old June 30th 06, 10:46 PM posted to sci.space.policy,sci.space.moderated
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Rand Simberg wrote:

I'm not sure there is (though an expedition to Mars or an asteroid
might suffice). I'm also not sure that we should want to.

I'd rather get people to think about space as a new frontier where all
kinds of pioneers can go, and risk their lives for their own goals and
purposes, rather than as a preserve for heroic government employees.



I hereby propose that we give forty cubic acres of space to anyone who
wants to pioneer it, provided that they liftoff on April 22nd aboard a
Conestoga rocket.
Anyone who can show that they or their ancestors have been abused by any
earthly government also gets a mule. :-)

Pat

  #16  
Old June 30th 06, 10:49 PM posted to sci.space.policy,sci.space.moderated
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Paul F. Dietz wrote:


And I *still* think a National Astronaut Cemetery would be a great idea.



(Cut to image of the tiny graves of the Aerobee mice.) ;-)

Pat

  #17  
Old June 30th 06, 10:52 PM posted to sci.space.policy,sci.space.moderated
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Pascal Bourguignon wrote:

Yes. All space-bound and space-based ventures should be tax-free.
If you find a gold asteroid and import it on Earth: tax free!


That's been thought of; the results for the world's economies aren't
nice if it ever happens.
Still, the importation could be made at record speed....several thousand
mph in fact.

Pat

  #18  
Old June 30th 06, 10:58 PM posted to sci.space.policy,sci.space.moderated
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On Fri, 30 Jun 2006 17:46:31 -0400, in a place far, far away, Pat
Flannery made the phosphor on my monitor glow in
such a way as to indicate that:

Rand Simberg wrote:

I'm not sure there is (though an expedition to Mars or an asteroid
might suffice). I'm also not sure that we should want to.

I'd rather get people to think about space as a new frontier where all
kinds of pioneers can go, and risk their lives for their own goals and
purposes, rather than as a preserve for heroic government employees.



I hereby propose that we give forty cubic acres of space to anyone who
wants to pioneer it, provided that they liftoff on April 22nd aboard a
Conestoga rocket.


Forty acres on the moon might be a little more appealling, if it
weren't against the Outer Space Treaty...

  #19  
Old July 1st 06, 05:08 AM posted to sci.space.policy,sci.space.moderated
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h (Rand Simberg) wrote:

:On Fri, 30 Jun 2006 09:39:25 -0400, in a place far, far away, "Jeff
:Findley" made the phosphor on my monitor
:glow in such a way as to indicate that:
:
:My question is this, is it even possible for NASA to find a truly heroic
:goal for our heroic astronauts?
:
:I'm not sure there is (though an expedition to Mars or an asteroid
:might suffice). I'm also not sure that we should want to.

Then you're making sure that human exploration of space is stillborn.
Somebody has to push the frontiers out and that isn't going to be
private industry or random groups of middle-class folks. That wasn't
how it was done 500 years ago and that's certainly not how it's going
to work now.

:I'd rather get people to think about space as a new frontier where all
:kinds of pioneers can go, and risk their lives for their own goals and
urposes, rather than as a preserve for heroic government employees.

I'd rather see both. What you're seeing now in 'private space' is the
results of the seed corn planted for all us old farts back in the
1960s and 1970s by that government exploration you dislike so much.
Once we start getting private LEO flight that's going to be pretty
much done, if it even gets that far. After all, for private space to
want to get to orbit there sort of has to be something there to go to.

You're thinking like the development of the airplane, except that in
the case of the airplane there were already places to go to spur
private growth. You need to think more like the Age of Exploration.
Most of those voyages were government-sponsored.

--
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable
man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore,
all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
--George Bernard Shaw

  #20  
Old July 1st 06, 09:44 AM posted to sci.space.policy,sci.space.moderated
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I hereby propose that we give forty cubic acres of space to anyone who
wants to pioneer it, provided that they liftoff on April 22nd aboard a
Conestoga rocket.



Forty acres on the moon might be a little more appealling, if it
weren't against the Outer Space Treaty...


Yes, but does that forty acres extend into the Lunar regolith regarding
mineral rights?
Whole piles of titanium down there.

Pat

 




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