We need more giant leaps for mankind

Newsday ^ | 07/25/05 | BRUCE MURRAY

[KevinDavis]

How significant is NASA's delay of the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery?

Certainly NASA can be expected to be especially cautious when trying to return to flight for the first time since Columbia and its intrepid crew were lost during re-entry in February 2003. This tragedy came 17 years after Challenger suffered a similarly televised demise with the violent loss of another seven crew members.

But no amount of engineering caution can make space flight perfectly safe. The speeds and heating rates are extreme, and the technology is unavoidably pushed close to its limits. Every human flight carries a potentially deadly risk. Thus, every human space flight must pursue mission objectives worth dying for.

[KevinDavis]

There will be more accidents down the road. Life is about taking risks and chances.. We can't play it safe forever...

[KevinDavis]

[DoughtyOne]

That is true Kevin, but it would be helpful if the next catastrophic failure doesn't involve something NASA knew for certain was a problem in months, weeks or even days prior to the launch.

[KevinDavis]

I agree..

[DoughtyOne]

I appreciate your threads. Thanks again.

[tet68]

I wish I were waking at midnight and suiting up!

[myheroesareDeadandRegistered]

I think one of mankind's greatest, under-reported space leaps was just a few months ago. Back when Burt Rutan and Co. captured the X-Prize. His genius designs got his ship up into the "wild black yonder" with a proportionally small budget and no heat tiles for the return. Was a stunning thing to behold.

[Prime Choice]

[kerryusama04]

once bitten, twice shy, man. We don't have enough of those shuttles to afford atomizing another one - let alone losing another crew of the best this planet has to offer.

Anyone know if we have plans to build a non-atari powered shuttle in the near future? I know of the mission to the moon/mars and a space worthy C130 is certainly in order if we are to populate the moon.

[Prime Choice]

I think one of mankind's greatest, under-reported space leaps was just a few months ago. Back when Burt Rutan and Co. captured the X-Prize.

I think what they did was great for an exclusive private venture, but what they did would have been impossible had NASA not paved the way through its innovations over the past 40 years.

In short, Rutan went to incredible heights...but only because he stood on the shoulders of giants.

[thoughtomator]

Hear, hear. If NASA was serious at all it would put Rutan in charge of its spacecraft program.

[NCC-1701]

That's a great shot of Columbia at liftoff. Columbia was the only orbiter that had the photo pod on the tail fin.

Good luck and Godspeed to the crew of STS-114 Discovery.

[Prime Choice]

If NASA was serious at all it would put Rutan in charge of its spacecraft program.

Bah. Rutan has only recently done what NASA did 40+ years ago with 1960s technology.

Let me know when Rutan gets a man on the moon and returns him safely to the Earth. Then we'll have something worth talking about.

[thoughtomator]

Yeah, but what did Rutan spend vs. what NASA spent?

[Prime Choice]

Yeah, but what did Rutan spend vs. what NASA spent?

So you're telling me the latecomers who follow what the inventors and developers did are on par with those who actually did it first?

So, in your book, anyone who understands the theory of Relativity is as much a genius as the man who first conceived the idea?

As I've said before: Rutan only went as high as he has because he stood on the shoulders of giants. If NASA hadn't paved the way, he wouldn't have been able to skateboard on it.

[RightWhale]

a non-atari powered shuttle

It appears there will be two derivative vehicles based on Space Shuttle tech to a degree, but both would be far more robust than the Space Shuttle. One would be man-rated and would carry crew to and from orbit and also to the moon and return. The other would be an unmanned freighter with a large throw weight.

[Moonman62]

As I've said before: Rutan only went as high as he has because he stood on the shoulders of giants. If NASA hadn't paved the way, he wouldn't have been able to skateboard on it.

It can also be said that NASA stood on the shoulders of giants. The big deal with Rutan is speed, efficiency, innovation, and enthusiasm.

[Prime Choice]

It can also be said that NASA stood on the shoulders of giants.

Which giants? Name them.

The big deal with Rutan is speed, efficiency, innovation, and enthusiasm.

Yeah...and going from earthbound to landing on the moon in eight short years is the work of slackers. Sure...

[thoughtomator]

Let's talk about what they are doing now. NASA spends its time flying a 35-year-old spacecraft that probably costs as much just to launch as it would take Rutan to build one of similar capability from scratch.

If NASA intends to be the world's elite space program, it needs as many Rutans as it can find. Another shuttle launch doesn't give much confidence that they're on the right track.

[Moonman62]

Goddard, all the German rocket scientists, and everyone that worked on ICBM's.

I didn't say NASA didn't have a great accomplishment with the Apollo program. It did. It also had a blank check and all the resources of the country. As I stated in my post, Rutan's achievement was done in a different way.