Enduring call of space

The Washington Times ^ | February 7, 2003 | Austin Bay

[Indy Pendance]

Do you

[Torie]

This poetic rationale for a hugely wasteful boondoggle leaves me cold. Sorry about that. I am willing to consider valuable scientific spinoffs, and willing to consider how they can be otherwise obtained. I am not willing to listen to poetry about the heavens that has no nexus with reality. Man is not going to be populating space for many, many generations if ever, and beyond Mars it gets really ludicrous. Deal with it.

[RightWhale]

those who wait for all problems to be solved at home will wait forever

The golden moment came in 1979. That was the time when we had the confluence of will and ability to crack the outer space barrier once and for all. Since then the chances of ever getting off this backwater mudball have decreased steadily. On WTC911 the chances dropped to zero. And we won't ever resolve our problems at home, neither with space development nor without it.

So if anyone gets a chance to slip away unnoticed into outer space, perhaps to build a settlement on Mars, DO IT!

[demosthenes the elder]

coldly rational reason for near-space colonization: Lunar mass-driver - for mining, in the long term... for dropping large rocks at high speeds on enemy territories with no radioactive troubles, for the foreseeable future.

[Torie]

IC. Thanks for sharing. I will hold my current opinion for the present nevertheless.

[Doc On The Bay]

"Two Men Looked Out 'Past Prison Walls----"one saw Mud, the Other, Stars!"