The Space Shuttle Must Be Stopped - TIME.com Article

[LH]

Bone Density research
Carbon Nanotech

Those are two big ones that NASA has been working on, that would have a huge impact on peoples lives.

What this dumbass doesnt realise, the reason NASA has canceled projects pertaining to the future replacement of the shuttle is they simply dont have near enough money to R&D new launch platforms, and continue space travel at the same time. NASA doesnt want to halt space travel for a number of years, before coming up with a a safe and "cheaper" replacement.

Does the shuttle need replaced? Yes, can it be replaced effectively right away? No. What needs to be done is there needs to be an automated cargo ship, that can carry as much as the shuttle, that can dock with the ISS and other things. Then have a space plane(or whatever people want to call it), to transport crews to and from the ISS, from there some type other ship to travel out into space, to fix things like satalites, etc, eventually travel to other places in the long term. The government and NASA need to think long term with what they want to do.

The shuttle should not be replaced till a sound replacement or replacements are ready for use.

 

[dolph]

maybe we started space travel too soon. maybe it is immature, and we have more important work to do here on earth before we can start colonizing space. maybe we don't have the resources to do space flight properly along with everything else we want to do. i hope not, because i think nasa has done great things for humanity in general and i'm usually for trying to do as much as possible, but i can admit that it's possible that we could have 20 years of research and advancement to do here first before we can go up into space properly. whatever the case, i'd like to see real dialogue before people say knee-jerk that nasa is useless or vital.

 

[silent tone]

Wasn't it Feynman that said 'Science is a lot like sex. Sometimes something useful comes out, but that's not why we're doing it.'

 

[Savatage]

it does make sense in a way...the space shuttle is expensive and outmoded, you'd think in that time frame they might have designed a more efficient and cost effective rocket to launch men into space.

I agree. And agree with what's written in that link. This sort of opinion has been around for a while. It gets more attention after a disater like this. Lets hope NASA does whatever is right for our country and the astronauts.

 

[RU482]

Man I'd love to have seen this discussion last weekend

 

[LH]

If they had the money to fund current space travel and develop new launch platforms, they'd do it. NASA nor the astronauts want to put space travel on hold while they work on a replacement.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Ive always been a supported of manned space flight, but the shuttle concept was flawed from the start. We need a big dumb reliable booster.

 

[PraetorianGuards]

I would have to disagree, tell that to the early explorers. Perhaps they shouldn't have mapped the world or discovered new lands. They could've just spent the gold on something more "practical". Space research/NASA is a NEED. And besides, as many people have stated already, plenty of useful things have come out of the space program.

 

[tcsenter]

i hope not, because i think nasa has done great things for humanity in general and i'm usually for trying to do as much as possible, but i can admit that it's possible that we could have 20 years of research and advancement to do here first before we can go up into space properly. whatever the case, i'd like to see real dialogue before people say knee-jerk that nasa is useless or vital.

The real issue is this:

Space flight is not inherently valuable, no more than terrestrial flight is inherently valuable. The value of any flight is to get you somewhere, there must be some kind of desired destination. Just flying for the sake of flying may be fun and thrilling, but its also extremely expensive. When the money is coming out of the public treasury, for the purpose of public benefit, we should hope the expenditure of public resources promises to deliver something which accomplishes a little more than giving some astronauts a fun and thrilling ride.

The NEAREST thing of any compelling interest is Alpha Centauri, which is only the 'stone's throw' distance of 4.35 light years from earth. That's 25.5 trillion miles, give or take. At an ambitious and currently unattainable speed of 100,000 miles per hour, it would take a tad more than 29,000 years (twenty nine thousand) to reach Alpha Centauri, presuming there is anything of interest there.

But let's be REEEL ambitious and suppose we can find propulsion to deliver 300,000 miles per hour. Well, that's makes all the difference, because our E.T.A. to Alpha Centauri has dramatically decreased to a miniscule 9700 years (nine thousand seven hundred). But hey, let's be even more ambitious, at one million miles per hour, we could 'hop on over' to Alpha Centauri in just under 3,000 years (three thousand).

That's presuming there is something there of interest, and it better be damned good, like a perfectly inhabitable planet that isn't spoken for by its current inhabitants, the odds of which even by the most optimistic "science fiction novel" estimates is on the level of one in a few billion.

Even if we could have started our space program 100 years ago with our current body of accumulated technological knowledge, and spending three times what we currently spend, we probably wouldn't be able to make the trip by the turn of the 22nd century.

IOW, the "Trekkies" with their fanciful science fiction dreams want us to divert precious hundreds of billions, even trillions over the next 50 - 100 years, away from other needy causes so that we can pursue what amounts by any rational standard to be a "shot in the dark".

Ooookay!

And if we get to Alpha Centauri and nobody is home?

 

[BD231]

I think what's really being worked on right now is life in space for a prolonged period of time, the greenhouse in space type deal. Dunno how viable that is as an option for space travel, but that's really what nasa and the space guy's seem to be focusing on. Getting to mars is their first step.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: ReiAyanami
well our destiny is in space, as this 3rd rock from the sun will be incinerated by it within 4.5 billion years. better to get a head start. furthermore, when the natl defense budget is $300+ billion compared to a $14.5 billion for NASA, we could shift a few billion from defense and there'd be no problem.

let other nations fight their won wars while we get a head start in space [in preparation for the Outer Space Wars of 2026]

space shuttles armed with canons. oh yea baby!!

 

[Jugernot]

Originally posted by: Maleficus
Have we seen any real fruits of our labor in the space department? doesn't really seem like it.

Seems like we could be using our resources for much better things

I guarentee research from the space program has intersected with all kinds of thing in our daily lives. It is a big testing lab of new technologies and new techniques for everything under the sun. From crystal growth to the strength of elastic bands.

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: BillGates
Okay, so we benefit technologically from the NASA inventions. However, do we really benefit from taking pictures of some galaxy or star 483204672406 light years away. There is another part of the NASA budget that is spent on satellites and telescopes, etc.

You're not quite getting the difference between pure science and applied science; pure science research expands the overall boundaries of human knowledge, from which someday applied science will hopefully produce new ideas and inventions and technologies. Without pure scientific research, humanity would not be where it is at today.

I agree with the TIME article in that we do need to question the need for the Space Shuttle and ISS, but I also believe that the space program has been seriously underfunded for decades. It'll be a major step forward when we have orbital-based industries that rely on mining asteroids for resources. If the Space Shuttle isn't the best way to go about it, perhaps we need to develop better methods; but humanity's quest to conquer and colonize space must continue.

 

[Shockwave]

In my opinion, only the ignorant would want to shut down Nasa. Science, and the art of learning, is a very important thing. What if people decided to never continue to push the envelope.
Those who say shut down Nasa are those who simply dont care to learn. We have the money. Use it for science and knowledge. Sure, it takes ALOT of money for a llittle bit of knowledge, but the quest for knowledge is something humans have always strived for, and what sets us apart from other species (That and opposing thumbs )
Leaning is good, mmmmkay?

 

[silverpig]

Ummm... Didn't velcro come from some guy who was walking through thistle patches with wool socks?

 

[Armitage]

A world without a frontier would be a very boring, stagnant place. I have to belive that our species has a future beyond confinement on this single small planet. The day that we stop looking outward will be a far sadder day then those that brought us the Apollo 1, Challenger or Columbia disasters.

 

[Nitemare]

Maybe Europe should have stopped sending ships westward after a few was lost?

 

[rahvin]

Before you all forget, the Microprocessor and the revolution it started was invented solely to lighten the computers and make travel to the moon possible.

 

[XZeroII]

What a short sighted and arrogant view of the space program. Nothing pans out correctly at first. If NASA's budget hadent been slashed, maybe they would have something better by now. Instead they have to spend every dime they get on repair and maint. of what they already have instead of building something better.

 

[Hoober]

That guy sounds like a commie.

 

[Electric Amish]

Deadly???

It's killed ~14 people??

Oooh, that's pretty serious.

Maybe we should stop driving cars too. They might be dangerous.

amish

Oh yeah, War is kinda dangerous....we should probably stop doing that as well.

 

[wyvrn]

My opinion is this. Yes we should spend money on domestic programs and promote world peace. At the same time, there is nothing wrong with exploring space and understanding the Universe with which we live in. We cannot hide in a box because of an accident. We would have never had a railroad if not for all the men that died laying it. We would not have a highway system if we shut construction down after the first injury. For society to go forth, we are going to pay a price. I do not say this callously, any human life is precious in its own right. However, I feel we have more to gain by pressing forward than by being scared. We must press forward. Think of all the products we have as a result of space, the technology that came from it, the knowledge or our surroundings from the rock samples and satellite pictures. We will remember our fallen brethren, but we will not cower from fear of the unknown.

 

[BatmanNate]

It's disgusting how many people here don't value the concept of exploration. The things we've learned about physics as a result of the space program are plentiful, which brings us closer and closer to understanding how the universe works. With greater understanding we are able to study ideas like gravity, time, neutrinos, and other forces at work in the universe so as to one day harness them in useful technologies for the betterment of mankind. Historically the field of science has always had more than a few enemies among the ignorant, and it's sad that even today so many question the value of stepping into the unknown looking for answers. Would you prefer we freeze all advancement and focus all attention inwards when there is a whole universe yet unexplored?

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: BatmanNate
It's disgusting how many people here don't value the concept of exploration. The things we've learned about physics as a result of the space program are plentiful, which brings us closer and closer to understanding how the universe works. With greater understanding we are able to study ideas like gravity, time, neutrinos, and other forces at work in the universe so as to one day harness them in useful technologies for the betterment of mankind. Historically the field of science has always had more than a few enemies among the ignorant, and it's sad that even today so many question the value of stepping into the unknown looking for answers. Would you prefer we freeze all advancement and focus all attention inwards when there is a whole universe yet unexplored?

Unfortunately, there's a whole universe to be explored both inwards and outwards...

There needs to be a common ground and some cooperation.

amish

 

[gotsmack]

Originally posted by: BillGates
Okay, so we benefit technologically from the NASA inventions. However, do we really benefit from taking pictures of some galaxy or star 483204672406 light years away. There is another part of the NASA budget that is spent on satellites and telescopes, etc.

I'm thinking that a lot of the technology they created could have been created for theoretical space missions and tested/perfected on earth without any loss of human life or extreme waste of money. I don't think one needs to be in space to test Velcro or microwaves or scratch proof sunglasses or XRay machines or CAT scan machines.

there are some things that you don't really know if they work until you test them. How far can you get on theoretical space missions? You can maybe get to the next stage but how do you advance to the one after? What must realize is that the things that were developed are a direct result of NASA and without NASA those things might have never been created. Satalites are very important. They are used for GPS devices, communications, and for general spying.

besides, the people who go up know the risks. Its like enlisting. You pretty much know that if there is a chance you could die in battle.