Where are the flying cars? I was promised flying cars!

[dolari]

So, Bush is considering announcing a moon mission or two.....and retiring the shuttle fleet?

No.

USE THE SHUTTLE TO BUILD A SPACE STATION THAT MATTERS. LIKE IT WAS SUPPOSED TO DO.

From there, you can start work on using it as a way station on the way to the moon. which can then be used as a launching point for Mars.

LIKE NASA PLANNED IN THE EARLY 70s.

Before Nixon slashed the budget, and made a Shuttle that didn't do it's job until we decided to finally build ISS in th early 90s. If NASA had had it's way we'd have gone to Mars by now. Granted there was a war going on back then, but we never revisited space after the war was over!

Not like it really matters. It's just a happy happy joy joy statement he can say to get reelected and ignore once he's back in.

Sorry about the rant, but space exploration is something really close to my heart.

Comments

[kengr]

Actually, while Nixon killed the Apollo program, it was *Congress* that gutted the Shuttle. And frankly, we'd be better off if we *did* retire the Shuttles and build up some large expendables (which can re-use some Shuttle technology) while trying to build the sort of thing the Shuttle was *supposed* to be.

The only reason the Shuttle is so big is that they needed Air Force support, which meant that the cargo bay had to be big enough to take a KH series recon satellite.

BTW, don't get me started on the fact that *Congress* was to blame for the Challenger disaster, as they refused to budget the money for liquid fuel boosters for the Shuttle forcing the use of the solid fuel ones.

Anyway, for getting "stuff" to orbit, unmanned boosters are perfectly fine. And less likely to get folks upset with you if they fail.

A reusable ship for small cargos and ferrying up crew is a different matter.

Oh yeah, it'd be nice if we'd quit throwing away the external tanks from the shuttle. They could be used as a basis for adding space to a station. And as fuel tanks for a "space tug" that could go from LEO to GEO or even to lunar orbit.

BTW, I'm old enough that I remember my mom taking me out in the backyard and trying to point out Sputnik to me one night when it was visible from Spokane.

I remember all the students being taken into the gym to watch a small black & white TV for the first two Mercury flights. (I was in first grade then).

[jenndolari.livejournal.com]

Well, Congress killed it in the way that vultures swarmed on an injured animal. :) I've always had this theory that the reason Congress is so down on the Space Program is that so much money goes into places that simply aren't their constituency, so most will hack and slash just to justify "We're not getting any, why should they?"

Shuttle-C was a good attempt to make an "Expendable" shuttle using the existingshuttle manufacturing plants (no crew module or wings, just tanks and cargo), but, sadly the plants are gone now, too, and parts from shuttles are cannibalized for each other/improvised instead of making new ones.

I seem to remember reading about using the Fuel Tanks as raw material for Space Stations, but that it was abandonned because it was too costly to clean them for use. :P Still, something has to be better than just dumping them into the atmosphere.

I'm not old enough to remember Sputnik (my mom is :) - but I remember seeing Crippen and Young come to our school to talk about the Columbia. It was a very special day for me. :D (Also saw the Columbia and Challenger at Kelly AFB, and got to see the Enterprise at the Worlds Fair).