View Full Version : The Space Shuttle's Last Mission
SicEmBaylor
3/9/2011, 07:34 PM
Today, the Space Shuttle Discovery landed thus ending our nation's manned space program for the foreseeable future. Coincidentally, today is also Ash Wednesday. It would seem that President Obama decided to give up our space program for lent this year.
what are you doing starting threads instead of watching your team?
SicEmBaylor
3/9/2011, 07:37 PM
NASA is like any other government agency -- full of bloat and waste. They have more than enough money in their budget to continue our space program if those resources were properly focused on innovation and exploration. My guess is that overhead and "administration" costs eat up a pretty large portion of their annual budget.
NASA should be trimmed down from top to bottom and steps taken to ensure that more of their budget is dedicated to the business of space exploration.
I think that NASA needs to greatly expand their cooperation with private innovators and private space projects. If NASA could use its resources to supplement the work done by private organizations then projects would be better managed and it would cost NASA a lot less than developing these projects themselves. Too often in the past, NASA has done everything they can to impede the work done by private groups in the area of space. NASA should partner with these people -- not sabotage their work.
I do think it's important for our country to stay on the cutting edge of scientific discovery and space exploration and for that we need a space agency. It's not something that any of the individual states could do themselves. However, NASA's large budget and government backing give it the resources to do things that the private sector likely never could which is why NASA, in the future, needs to direct its resources in such a way that it works in conjunction with the private sector.
For example, in the area of manned space vehicles, there are some true innovators coming up with a lot of really great and promising projects to safely move people into space and bring them safely home. However, their resources are much more limited than NASA's which is where NASA can step in and allow these private innovators to share and make use of the resources that NASA can provide. NASA has an opportunity to boost and fast-track these private projects.
I kind of doubt all of that happens for a number of reasons, but I think the future of our space program depends on NASA better managing their resources and working in conjunction with private innovators.
SicEmBaylor
3/9/2011, 07:38 PM
what are you doing starting threads instead of watching your team?
Holy ****, we have a team? I didn't get that memo! :D
soonercruiser
3/9/2011, 07:42 PM
End of an Era, for sure!
:(
Guess I'll have to build my own out of PT Cruiser parts.
(I know this will get a few comments :P )
Has the Muslim Outreach Mission thingey paid any dividends yet?
sooner59
3/9/2011, 08:17 PM
We need some advancements in technology that will make space exploration easier and cheaper. Then there will be much more interest. The interest is there from the common citizen, but those managing the money see it as an area where cuts can be made.
i thought this was just Discovery's last mission, but Endeavour had one more.
still a better way to go out than Challenger and Columbia, but sad nonetheless
i am a little surprised to hear SicEm is for big government on this one :D
BudSooner
3/9/2011, 08:27 PM
Today, the Space Shuttle Discovery landed thus ending our nation's manned space program for the foreseeable future. Coincidentally, today is also Ash Wednesday. It would seem that President Obama decided to give up our space program for lent this year.I think this was the last mission for Discovery, I read last week that Endeavor is being readied for an April launch at least....I think so.
It was in an article on Yahoo last weekend.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-134
i guess there are actually two more
SicEmBaylor
3/9/2011, 08:35 PM
Well, I jumped the gun a bit. I thought it was the last shuttle mission, period. My bad. Just pretend this thread is a few months from now. :D
BudSooner
3/9/2011, 08:36 PM
Well, I jumped the gun a bit. I thought it was the last shuttle mission, period. My bad. Just pretend this thread is a few months from now. :DHell I expected more from you, after all....you did go:D to Baylor. :P
rekamrettuB
3/9/2011, 08:39 PM
Gas prices getting too high.
I attended Discovery's first launch.
SicEmBaylor
3/9/2011, 08:39 PM
i am a little surprised to hear SicEm is for big government on this one :D
The Federal government does have a role in some things. The important things to keep in mind here are:
1)Does NASA infringe upon the rightful power of the individual states? No.
2)Does NASA, in any way, infringe upon the rights and liberty of individual Americans? No.
3)Do the risks and rewards of funding NASA represent a net benefit to the national good? Arguable, but I say Yes.
NASA isn't an unreasonable expansion of Federal power, and it is not the sort of domestic governmental program that infringes upon liberty or makes people dependent upon government. I definitely think NASA should have a lot of its excess fat trimmed, and I think NASA needs to do more to encourage and promote private space development.
the-rover
3/9/2011, 10:00 PM
I think this was the last mission for Discovery, I read last week that Endeavor is being readied for an April launch at least....I think so.
It was in an article on Yahoo last weekend.
You are correct, Endeavor was rolled out to the launchpad today, coincidentally, for an April launch. Atlantis is the last expected shuttle launch, and will be in June.
OrlandoSooner
3/9/2011, 11:07 PM
I work in Orlando and heard the sonic boom when it reentered the atmosphere about noon today. It has been cool to see the launches over the years. Sad to see it ending.
OUmillenium
3/10/2011, 10:17 AM
Today, the Space Shuttle Discovery landed thus ending our nation's manned space program for the foreseeable future. Coincidentally, today is also Ash Wednesday. It would seem that President Obama decided to give up our space program for lent this year.
Nice!
SoCaliSooner
3/10/2011, 10:20 AM
I thought this was going to be about another billion dollar bottle rocket...
1890MilesToNorman
3/10/2011, 10:38 AM
If my memory serves me I think the space program has led to over 20,000 consumer products over it's life time. So yea, it was a waste of time and money.
Turd_Ferguson
3/10/2011, 10:42 AM
If my memory serves me I think the space program has led to over 20,000 consumer products over it's life time. So yea, it was a waste of time and money.If it would have led to TANG only, it would have been worth it.
Leroy Lizard
3/10/2011, 11:57 AM
If it would have led to TANG only, it would have been worth it.
NASA had nothing to do with the development of Tang.
Turd_Ferguson
3/10/2011, 11:59 AM
NASA had nothing to do with the development of Tang.Do not **** with my childhood memory's Leroy!!!:mad:
SoCaliSooner
3/10/2011, 12:20 PM
If my memory serves me I think the space program has led to over 20,000 consumer products over it's life time. So yea, it was a waste of time and money.
Almost every computer technology and hi-tech medical imaging, about 90% of the equipment in an ER...gps and many of the tools we use as firefighters like thermal imaging all came from space/defense technology....
TitoMorelli
3/10/2011, 12:23 PM
NASA had nothing to do with the development of Tang.
Actually, the USSR first sent tang into space. I think her name was Valentina Tereshkova.
Caboose
3/10/2011, 12:23 PM
Almost every computer technology and hi-tech medical imaging, about 90% of the equipment in an ER...gps and many of the tools we use as firefighters like thermal imaging all came from space/defense technology....
Which in turn came from extra-terrestrial technology reverse engineered from the wreckage of alien space craft recovered from Roswell N.M.. True fact.
Leroy Lizard
3/10/2011, 12:44 PM
Do not **** with my childhood memory's Leroy!!!:mad:
Turd is trying to inflict on us a false image of what really took place in the 1960s.
Turd's version: "I've been looking for a new drink, and I hear that NASA is using Tang on its flights. I'll bring some home and let my little Turd try it. (later in the day). What a refreshing drink. Thanks, NASA!"
What really happened: "Giving Turd that space suit for his seventh birthday was a mistake. Now he wants that Tang crap 'because the astronauts drink it!' **** you, NASA!!! And the Saturn rocket you rode in on!"
Leroy Lizard
3/10/2011, 12:45 PM
Actually, the USSR first sent tang into space. I think her name was Valentina Tereshkova.
She was the second. The first was Po'olona N. Tangovich.
Penguin
3/10/2011, 01:45 PM
Until somebody invents faster-than-light travel, space exploration is kind of a waste of time and resources.
cantwait48
3/10/2011, 01:54 PM
It would seem that President Obama decided to give up our space program for lent this year."
mooslims have lent?
Wishboned
3/10/2011, 01:55 PM
I work in Orlando and heard the sonic boom when it reentered the atmosphere about noon today. It has been cool to see the launches over the years. Sad to see it ending.
That's one of the things I miss about Orlando. Walking out into the backyard to watch the shuttle take off.
Don't really miss those early morning landings though.
Three nights ago I stood in my yard and watched Discovery and the ISS at the same time rising in the northwest (the ISS was the brighter of the two). They traveled across the sky, almost reaching the zenith, then went down in the southeast, entering Earth's shadow about 20 or 30 degrees above the horizon. So I saw the ship in flight on it's final mission . . .
the-rover
3/10/2011, 03:11 PM
That's a cool thing to do, haven't done that in a couple of years............
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/index.html
Leroy Lizard
3/10/2011, 06:39 PM
Three nights ago I stood in my yard and watched Discovery and the ISS at the same time rising in the northwest (the ISS was the brighter of the two). They traveled across the sky, almost reaching the zenith, then went down in the southeast, entering Earth's shadow about 20 or 30 degrees above the horizon. So I saw the ship in flight on it's final mission . . .
Just watch it on YouTube. With YouTube you can play some trite Kenny Loggins music in the background and do special vid effects. Can you do that in real life?
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