Posted on 02/11/2010 10:41:19 PM PST by Steelfish
Closing The New Frontier
By Charles Krauthammer Friday, February 12, 2010
"We have an agreement until 2012 that Russia will be responsible for this," says Anatoly Perminov, head of the Russian space agency, about ferrying astronauts from other countries into low-Earth orbit. "But after that? Excuse me, but the prices should be absolutely different then!"
By the end of this year, there will be no shuttle, no U.S. manned space program, no way for us to get into space. We're not talking about Mars or the moon here. We're talking about low-Earth orbit, which the United States has dominated for nearly half a century and from which it is now retiring with nary a whimper.
Our absence from low-Earth orbit was meant to last a few years, the interval between the retirement of the fatally fragile space shuttle and its replacement with the Constellation program (Ares booster, Orion capsule, Altair lunar lander) to take astronauts more cheaply and safely back to space.
But the Obama 2011 budget kills Constellation. Instead, we shall have nothing. For the first time since John Glenn flew in 1962, the United States will have no access of its own for humans into space -- and no prospect of getting there in the foreseeable future.
Of course, the administration presents the abdication as a great leap forward: Launching humans will be turned over to the private sector, while NASA's efforts will be directed toward landing on Mars.
This is nonsense. It would be swell for private companies to take over launching astronauts. But they cannot do it. It's too expensive. It's too experimental. And the safety standards for getting people up and down reliably are just unreachably high.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
exactly ... private manned space flight is a fantasy. so O just killed manned space flight and he knows it.... no more exceptionalism for the USA..
good article.
what about the private companies working out of Edwards AFB? they should at least be capable of making runs to the Space Station within a year or so, yes?
I don’t think so. It’s one thing to reach lower space. It’s entirely another thing to reach orbit let alone go deep into space to reach the space station.
IMO, we’re half a decade to a decade from private enterprise being able to reach the space station we paid about 70 to 90% of the cost for, then called it an international space station.
We’ve been headed to this point for some time. When we named that space station the international space station, the handwriting was on the wall.
It’s really too bad we didn’t field a nominee in 2008 that could articulate why Obama was a bad risk. Instead he said we had nothing to fear from him.
Well McCain, what’s your cover now for the idiocy you spewed in 2008?
“private manned space flight is a fantasy.”
Actually, don’t believe that at all... I think that private space flight will occur within the next five years (if the government does not destroy the economy). I agree that for things to occur quickly, it does take massive spending by government agencies - but once the scientific principals are established, private industry could be a grand choice. Things are proceeding much faster than previously thought with private space exploration.
BTTT. In the long run, this is probably the most dangerous of all of Obama’s efforts to dismantle our national security.
Yes.
Private sector access to space should complement the government’s role not replace it entirely. Imagine if we left other national security functions entirely to the private sector or relied upon other nations to secure our assets and pursue our best interests.
National security decisions based on profits/losses and vulnerable to board/shareholder votes and corporate culture/policy? That’s asking for disaster.
At least we will be spared NASA crowing about the “first person” of this or that background to orbit the earth. No more idiotic HS science experiments or endless video of astronauts doing somersaults and trying to eat in zero gravity either. No more “heroic” tales of astronauts fixing something that could have been replaced cheaper than keeping the manned program alive.
there is no compelling commercial reason to go to space. if the government doesn’t fund it it wont happen. So the government has chosen to put it money on science project in nasa to monitor the earth and us on it. is is called ‘planetary skin’.
it is all part of the global warming scam..
Don’t agree...partially. There are many reasons for private companies to provide orbital options. Now you may be right in the short term that long distance space objectives are not there - deep space will continue to be a government option - way too expensive. I do hope that private options occur in the future though.
there is no commercial viable business plan to invest in space.
Not true at all... There are many requirements to provide orbital satellites that are practical for commercial flights. Maybe you and I are confusing “space objectives”. Near Earth objectives for orbital objects are not only in great demand, but really need additional commercial options.
Maybe you really mean space in a different sense...which I would agree.
There is no viable commercial business plan that makes any sense with regard to space. That means to me there are no companies who are commercial only who will pay to go to space and all that means. Billions and billions on some bet that it will, might work. The risk is to high and there are no rewards big enough to warrant it. The only reason we are there is because of a military reason to own the high ground after the Russians beat us to it. They now are in control of our ‘space program’.
The requirements are for government owned and operated systems no commercially owned and operated systems. The government is the only enabler for space. With out it the space business goes away.
Manned space flight is a nation state activity and we have stopped. We can not afford it. The Chinese and others are going for it but we have lost the will.
Well one, you seem to be talking about space exploration - so I agree with what you are saying (for now - the future may hold things differently).
I was talking about putting satellites into space which seems to be a coming competition between private companies. Don’t want to get into any arguments otherwise...
http://www.spacedaily.com/
http://www.nasawatch.com/
this is what your tax dollars will fund in the future. a global grid of sensors to monitor everything that is on this planet. Cisco will merge terrestrial systems with the space systems and it will cost about a trillion or two when it is done.
Global Warming... all sponsored by the fed and our taxes.
Sorry, you do seem to be getting a bit off subject. I did not think that government snooping (overreach) or global warming was the subject here.. Are you trying to place your fears into a thread that has little to do with either?
Not that I disagree much, but please limit your comments to the subject at hand.
do you see all the satellites... space ... get it..
Ah..yes, satellites, government over-reach, police brutality, government takes over the military, and then global apocalypse. Now I get it... all because of space technology.
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