I just looked over my original post in this thread - nowhere in there do I say Americans back to the moon - I said humans, mankind, earth residents....etc.


That INCLUDES Australians....that includes everybody. When I say or type that "We" need to explore and set up colonies, I'm usually referring to everybody or mankind ....not just Americans.


- Ed C.

Quote from: KoltarThat INCLUDES Australians....that includes everybody. When I say or type that "We" need to explore and set up colonies, I'm usually referring to everybody or mankind ....not just Americans.

AFAIK, there have been only three "Australian" astronauts.  All of them became US citizens before joining the space program.  Doesn't NASA let non-Americans in?

Quote from: Tyberious FunkAFAIK, there have been only three "Australian" astronauts.  All of them became US citizens before joining the space program.  Doesn't NASA let non-Americans in?

Did they have romances with Americans and marry them?


- Ed C.

Finally!!
 A candidate mentions NASA and Space Program in a good way:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080606111510.5jnz56gu&show_article=1

QuoteMcCain would like to see a man on Mars  
 
Jun 6 07:15 AM US/Eastern
 


Presumptive Republican White House nominee John McCain said Thursday he would like to see a manned mission to Mars as part of a "better set of priorities" for NASA that would better engage the public.
At a townhall event in Florida, the Arizona senator was asked about funding for the US space agency's shuttle program, which is due to end in 2010.

He said he "would be willing to spend more taxpayers' dollars" to continue the program but argued that NASA must do a better job of inspiring the American public, as when it sent a man to the moon in 1969.

McCain said one of his favorite books as a child had been Ray Bradbury's 1950 novel "The Martian Chronicles," about humans colonizing the Red Planet.

"I am intrigued by a man on Mars and I think that it would excite the imagination of the American people if we can say, 'Hey, here's what it looks like," he said.

"We know that now, and here's what may be there and let's all join in that project. I think Americans would be very willing to do that."

Now ...I might think about voting for McCain.


- Ed C.

Quote from: KoltarFinally!!
 A candidate mentions NASA and Space Program in a good way:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080606111510.5jnz56gu&show_article=1




Now ...I might think about voting for McCain.


- Ed C.

Fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

...me, too.

Crap, and I was going to sit this election out.

Guess I'll be voting for McCain.

Let's go to Fucking Mars!!!

:woop:

Seriously, I am all for space exploration.  I'd agree with him--they do need to do a better job showing the benefits and advances to the public.

McCain going for the geek vote.  Smart move.

Quote from: KoltarI just looked over my original post in this thread - nowhere in there do I say Americans back to the moon - I said humans, mankind, earth residents....etc.

But you're a Klingon! :eek:

Quote from: Kyle AaronNow let's have a look at the Shuttle. That's relevant to a discussion of putting Americans on the Moon since it shows NASA's ability to develop a spacecraft which carries both people and cargo, and which has to stay in space for some weeks.

Actually, Kyle, the shuttle is entirely irrelevant to this discussion because the Shuttle was developed in the 1970s with unrealistic expectations and a continually contracting budged that caused all sorts of compromises.  The new system is purposely modeled on the Apollo approach rather than the Shuttle approach because rather than wasting money and weight on wings so they can fly back at substantial risk, as the Columbia disaster showed (the risk of failure during landing has always been large for the shuttle) they decided to go with what's safer and cheaper.  Given that NASA has purposely looked at exactly the problems you are talking about and given that NASA has rejected the Shuttle approach for the Apollo (and Soyuz, since you seem to like them) approach, I think your analysis is entirely irrelevant to this new system.

Yes, Kyle, the Shuttle is a dangerous and expensive system because the design parameters were too optimistic and the budget kept getting cut, along with safety systems, when it was developed in the 1970s.  That's why NASA is choosing not to build another Shuttle system but is instead building a system like the Apollo and, yes, Soyuz.

Quote from: Kyle AaronRussian history is of making cheap and reliable spacecraft. Chinese history is of making cheap and unreliable spacecraft, though their reliability is improving. US and EU history are of making expensive and unreliable spacecraft.

Of course the Russians have a good history of making cheap and reliable spacecraft because their cheap development often cost a lot of lives along the way, including the 90 or so who died in the launch-pad disaster that killed Marshall of Artillery Mitrofan Nedelin, and I notice your death toll starts in 1971.  The Americans learned from their Shuttle mistakes, too, which is why they aren't building another Shuttle.  The American safety record before the Shuttle was pretty good, too (the Apollo 1 disaster led to design changes), so the main problem has been the Shuttle.

I have to agree with John that the Shuttle program was the worst disaster to ever befall the american space program as a whole. Its what's set us back nearly 40 years from where we OUGHT to be right now in space exploration.  

RPGPundit

I love space but I wouldn't spend nickle on a manned mission to Mars given the enormous hole McCain's party has dug for us here on earth.

Personally I like the guy; he's probably the best candidate the Republicans could have put forward, but I would discount space program talk relative to far more pressing issues such as tax policy and the deficit, Iraq & the Middle East, education and poverty, etc.

See, this is what happens--your young nations grow up, have kids, then suddenly they don't want to go out on crazy-ass fun road trips any more.

I'm hard-pressed to think of much of anything either party has done lately, and I haven't heard a concrete plan to fix shit yet. Both sides seem pretty inept.  So let's get our asses to Mars and see if that does anything.

Shit is never going to "change" here on Earth - let's get to fucking Mars before I die. The shitheads who stole my future owe me THAT much.

I want permanent orbital colonies.  I wanna go to Side 3, dammit.