Posted on 07/20/2011 6:24:14 PM PDT by KevinDavis
Well this is it folks.. It has been a fun ride.
It is a shame that I didn't get to see those birds launch in person. Oh well should have moved to Florida.
What stuff in science did the Muslims contribute? NONE!
” But at least they are home safely.”
Probably to obamas dismay.
Even huffpo and democraticunderground get it.
“3200 people will lose their job when Atlantis touches down.”
And Cape Canaveral will be turned over to the weeds.
Space always been one of my issues. But until very recently, a seeming majority of FReepers were confirmed Luddites when it came to space. That seems to have changed a bit. I guess some folks don't know what they have until they lose it.
“I honestly hope the Russians do it safe. Its all on their shoulders for awhile except for the unmanned launches.”
Wait and see. Our unmanned program will be next on the commissars chopping block.
“The Russians won the space race, after all.”
Not really. The so-called “space race” was all about getting to the moon first. We won. But with our manned space program now dead and buried, we have truly become a nation of navel gazers.
That's great! That's SUPER!! When is the first scheduled manned launch?
Oh...right. There isn't. Private industry will only launch men into space when it is predictibly profitable, advantageous and safe to do so, which it will not be in your lifetime or mine. Until then, man in space is a government thing.
“That’s great! That’s SUPER!! When is the first scheduled manned launch?
Oh...right. There isn’t. Private industry will only launch men into space when it is predictibly profitable, advantageous and safe to do so, which it will not be in your lifetime or mine. Until then, man in space is a government thing.”
Very true. And only a govt. can marshall the resouces needed for a space program. The idea that private industry can make a viable space program is crap.
When I was a boy in the distant '70s I had a library of space exploration books. The consensus of the books was that we would have a permanent space station by '80, a Mars expedition by '90, a Moon base by 2000 and a Mars colony by 2010. By 2100 we were going to be blasting off for Alpha Centauri or Bernard's Star. We were going to the stars, baby!
Pie in the sky, all of it. Go ahead someone, blame the Shuttle itself. You'd be half-right, but it doesn't make it any easier to watch the dream die.
It may be immature of me, but I'm still a bit bitter and discontented about how things actually turned out. Instead of living in a new Great Age of Exploration, I get to live in the First Age of Navel Gazing. Or is it the Same Old Age of Fruitless Genital Twiddling? On way or the other, it will come to naught.
Private industry is built on Return on Investment. Until there is a hope of a tangible return, there will be no private space program. There might eventually be a cottage industry flying millionaires into orbit so that they can join the Two-Hundred-Mile-High Club, but that is hardly a capable Space Program.
Gene Kranz is right. We do need to finish the job. With the landing of Atlantis, it is a temporary pit stop. We will continue to do what we have done so well since 1961. The race with the Russians helped spur us on to do all the wonderful things we did. We accomplishe two things they never did. We landed men, repeatedly, on the moon and we launched and returned, repeatedly, a manned, re-usable space shuttle. We did that with near perfection. Well done NASA for all the successes you had. I was on hell of a ride.
The final numbers, in terms of people flown abourd shuttles are these. In the entire Space Shuttle program 355 individuals had a seat on the shuttle. Of those, 292 came from the United States, 21 from Russia, 2 from Belgium, 8 from Canada, 7 from France, 6 from Germany, 5 from Italy, 7 from Japan, and 1 each from Isreal, Mexico, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. That’s 15 countries.
49 women flew, 44 from the United States, 1 from Russia, 2 from Canada and Japan.
Again I say congratulations to all those that were involved with the Space Transportation System. You all did this country proud. You have earned your place in history. Thank you for all those wonderful memories.
“...This on July 21,2011 - the 42nd anniversary of the Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong becoming the 1st man to walk on the surface of the moon (on July 21, 1969)....”
A little nit-picking here. Neil and Buzz landed and walked on the moon on July 2oth. They launched from Tranquility Base on the 21st. But who’s counting.
On a personal note, That day, today’s final landing of the space shuttle program and my 10th wedding anniversary will be forever welded together. Those are all great dates.
July 2oth = 20th. Epic ooops.
Well, OK; but as we pay the Russians $63 million a seat for rides to the International Space Station, it is hard to remember that.
But in time, that will be the case. Trust me.
I don't have patience for all that. ;-)
Yep.
This morning was the last time I will hear my charming, quiet-spoken bride say, "What the Hell was that!?"
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