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And as for the program itself, it was time to retire it. I have faith that something amazing will happen in the future. It's in our nature.
Agree... mostly. But some part of me is discouraged at the moment.
I thought I had missed it, but it ended up making a turn right over me. This is the grainy result from my crappy little point-and-shoot:
Now.
We can't even get an aerial refueling contract settled in less than 10 years. Furthermore this country is to poor to be in space exploration. We need to get our house in order before we spend billions on another space craft.
Probably true, but I choose to be hopefully optimistic.It'll probably never happen again. This country has strayed to far away from it's roots, and the "I got mine" mentality has taken people over.
I am going to put on my flame suit for this because it's going to make some of the natives restless, but Obama screwed us when he decided to take the Shuttle out of service with out a replacement ready. We currently have nothing solid in the works as a country to return to space. We will be hitching rides on other countries rockets to get to the space station. And Hubble was supposed to be returned to earth and be a museum piece. If it comes back to earth now, it'll burn up on re-entry because we don't have a vehicle to get it home.
Not that I disagree with your sentiments overall, but I believe SpaceX and other commercial companies will preclude the need to hitch rides on other countries' rockets. I'd like to believe that Obama was briefed and decided that private enterprise could take over at least that essential duty.
We haven't given up on space exploration, though. I mean, we just landed a probe on Mars! We're still getting the innovation in all the things Lee D mentions, they just aren't from a manned program. I do believe exploration is important, and I'd love to see more funding for it, but the fact that we don't currently have a need for a manned program does not mean we've abandoned space entirely.
It's a bigger PITA to buy a new car just so you can bring home your new TV.It's a PITA to go buy a new TV and bring it home on a bus.
It's a bigger PITA to buy a new car just so you can bring home your new TV.
Do you mean essential to the country or essential to a space program? Either way would matter but one more so. If the program is essential, and the President had been briefed as you say, has he dumped $hundreds of millions into those private endeavors? Re: Solyndra, et al.Not that I disagree with your sentiments overall, but I believe SpaceX and other commercial companies will preclude the need to hitch rides on other countries' rockets. I'd like to believe that Obama was briefed and decided that private enterprise could take over at least that essential duty.
Do you mean essential to the country or essential to a space program? Either way would matter but one more so. If the program is essential, and the President had been briefed as you say, has he dumped $hundreds of millions into those private endeavors? Re: Solyndra, et al.