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Are there any rumors of a big NASA lunar space policy due any day now?
As the 20 May 2006 edition of Air & Space on it's cover shows the
proposed new lunar lander, and on Thursday it'll be 45 years to the day since America's President Kennedy did his '...we choose to go to the Moon...' speech. Are there any rumours or indications of an official announcement or green light to go back? -- Christopher |
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Are there any rumors of a big NASA lunar space policy due any day now?
on Thursday it'll be 45 years to the day since America's President
Kennedy did his '...we choose to go to the Moon...' speech. Are there any rumours or indications of an official announcement or green light to go back? There's a great article at http://www.thespacereview.com/article/627/1 which, among other things, claims we have seen such an announcement several times (e.g. Bush's SEI speech), and how it didn't have nearly the effect of Kennedy's speech. |
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Are there any rumors of a big NASA lunar space policy due any day now?
Jim Kingdon wrote:
on Thursday it'll be 45 years to the day since America's President Kennedy did his '...we choose to go to the Moon...' speech. Are there any rumours or indications of an official announcement or green light to go back? There's a great article at http://www.thespacereview.com/article/627/1 which, among other things, claims we have seen such an announcement several times (e.g. Bush's SEI speech), and how it didn't have nearly the effect of Kennedy's speech. It would be interesting to actually figure out how much impact Kennedy's speech actually had - and how much impact came from the Apollo Program becoming his posthumous monument. D. -- Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh. -Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings. Oct 5th, 2004 JDL |
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Are there any rumors of a big NASA lunar space policy due any day now?
h (Rand Simberg) wrote:
On Mon, 22 May 2006 20:33:01 GMT, in a place far, far away, (Derek Lyons) made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such a way as to indicate that: There's a great article at http://www.thespacereview.com/article/627/1 which, among other things, claims we have seen such an announcement several times (e.g. Bush's SEI speech), and how it didn't have nearly the effect of Kennedy's speech. It would be interesting to actually figure out how much impact Kennedy's speech actually had - and how much impact came from the Apollo Program becoming his posthumous monument. It would be interesting, if there were any way to do that in an indisputable way. Unfortunately, history remains unamenable to such controlled experiments for now. Now certainly one could not arrive at a definitive statement, but building a reasonable case could easily be done. Once could examine budget figures, editorials, the Congressional Record, mass media publications, etc... etc... All-in-all pretty standard research methods for any historian and pretty routinely done. There's no particular need for an 'indisputable' answer. D. -- Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh. -Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings. Oct 5th, 2004 JDL |
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Are there any rumors of a big NASA lunar space policy due any day now?
"Jeff Findley" wrote:
"Derek Lyons" wrote in message ... It would be interesting to actually figure out how much impact Kennedy's speech actually had - and how much impact came from the Apollo Program becoming his posthumous monument. And I think people tend to forget that Kennedy was a small piece of this entire equation, IMHO. The bigger influences were that: 1. Space travel was cool and new and there was much excitement generated for manned spaceflight because of this. 2. Those "godless commies" were neck and neck with us technologically and were already ahead of us the "space race". This was somewhat of a black eye to US. So? The bald fact remains that prior to Kennedy's speech - there wasn't a coherent lunar program, and aftwards one came into being. D. -- Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh. -Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings. Oct 5th, 2004 JDL |
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Are there any rumors of a big NASA lunar space policy due any day now?
Jeff Findley wrote: The next first was the US space shuttle, the first "reusable" space vehicle that landed on a runway. By then, the Soviets/Russians were clearly tired of the space race and didn't fund their space shuttle or it's launch vehicle, beyond a single unmanned Buran test flight. IIRC the Russians were scared of the shuttle and (presumably) forced a similar design upon their designers. Weren't they talking about giant H bombs carried by the shuttle, "bombing runs" and the snatching of satelites? Unfortunately, emulating the US design meant the hatchet for more promissing reusable vehicle being studied at the time. IMHO, Buran was killed by political instability (fall of the USSR). As for making the unmanned flight, their cosmonauts (Leonov included) pleaded for a crew on that flight, but ... On a side line, I think Buran would have made a better shuttle and Energia was a great HLV. Conclusion? Apollo was a temporary aberration brought on more by cold war competition than by anything else. As such, the high levels of funding that Apollo enjoyed are highly unlikely to return to NASA, at least until something fundamental changes. I doubt that fundamental change is coming anytime soon. Too damn bad. I wonder was the price tag would have been for a token Moon program that would have kept Apollo hardware flying say once / twice a year. |
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Are there any rumors of a big NASA lunar space policy due anyday now?
Jeff Findley wrote:
"Derek Lyons" wrote in message ... It would be interesting to actually figure out how much impact Kennedy's speech actually had - and how much impact came from the Apollo Program becoming his posthumous monument. And I think people tend to forget that Kennedy was a small piece of this entire equation, IMHO. The bigger influences were that: 1. Space travel was cool and new and there was much excitement generated for manned spaceflight because of this. 2. Those "godless commies" were neck and neck with us technologically and were already ahead of us the "space race". This was somewhat of a black eye to US. All Kennedy did was to set a new goal for the US, and Soviets, to shoot for. Kennedy's speech was in May of 1961, which was already well into the "space race". The Soviets had already beaten the US to several space firsts, not the least was the first man to orbit the earth, which was Yuri Gagarin in the previous month! At that point in the space race, the "godless commies" were already ahead. Now jump foreword to 1970. The US had already beaten the soviets to the moon, and with every year, it looked like they wouldn't even attempt a manned lunar flight. The next first was manned space stations, which the Soviets again could claim as a first. The US Skylab came later and was better in many ways when compared to the Soviet's Salyut stations, but the US only launched one station in the 70's and is only partially responsible for ISS, where the Soviets/Russians have a clear track record in keeping men in cans in LEO. The next first was the US space shuttle, the first "reusable" space vehicle that landed on a runway. By then, the Soviets/Russians were clearly tired of the space race and didn't fund their space shuttle or it's launch vehicle, beyond a single unmanned Buran test flight. So today, there isn't much of a space race at all. Men is LEO is boring. Men on the moon was done nearly four decades ago, so it's hardly a "first". The next first, manned mission to Mars, seems like a pipe dream, since no government program has gotten serious funding, due to it's potentially extreme price tag. Conclusion? Apollo was a temporary aberration brought on more by cold war competition than by anything else. As such, the high levels of funding that Apollo enjoyed are highly unlikely to return to NASA, at least until something fundamental changes. I doubt that fundamental change is coming anytime soon. TSTO - Delta IV Medium It's here now. SSTO - Single Stage to Orbit. Ten Meters. It's coming. RLV - TSTO winged reusable launch vehicles. You can't stop it now, Rutan is working on it. NASA and the DOD are ****ting bricks about commercial space. http://cosmic.lifeform.org |
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Are there any rumors of a big NASA lunar space policy due any day now?
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#10
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Are there any rumors of a big NASA lunar space policy due anyday now?
Derek Lyons wrote:
"Jeff Findley" wrote: "Derek Lyons" wrote in message ... It would be interesting to actually figure out how much impact Kennedy's speech actually had - and how much impact came from the Apollo Program becoming his posthumous monument. And I think people tend to forget that Kennedy was a small piece of this entire equation, IMHO. The bigger influences were that: 1. Space travel was cool and new and there was much excitement generated for manned spaceflight because of this. 2. Those "godless commies" were neck and neck with us technologically and were already ahead of us the "space race". This was somewhat of a black eye to US. So? The bald fact remains that prior to Kennedy's speech - there wasn't a coherent lunar program, and aftwards one came into being I like this part : "We propose to develop alternate liquid and solid fuel boosters, much larger than any now being developed, until certain which is superior." "We propose additional funds for other engine development and for unmanned explorations ..." Here it is 45 years later, and we're still thrashing it out. At least back then, he had his priorities straight. http://cosmic.lifeform.org |
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