OT (?): Manned Space Flight

[AES]

The following may be (?) OT for this NG, but I believe a lot of the
people on this group are interested, one way or another, in manned space
flight, so I'll pass the following along:


WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 16 Sep 05 Washington, DC

4. THE POISON PILL: NASA UNVEILS PLANS TO VISIT THE MOON IN 2018.

2018? In 1961 John Kennedy promised the Moon "before this decade
is out." From a standing start, America was on the moon in seven
years. Now, after 44 years of "space progress," it's gonna take
twice as long? What are we looking for? NASA says they'll find
water, hydrogen and "valuable commodities." On the Moon? Go on!
Maybe someone takes that seriously, but he's not writing this
column. We've got robots on Mars right now. Put a few of them
on the moon. They don't break for lunch, or complain about the
cold nights, and they live on sunshine. Space exploration with
humans is about over. The bills won't come due until Bush is
safely out of office. Stick the next administration with an
impossibly expensive and pointless program and let them take the
blame for ending human space exploration. This is a poison pill.

Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland -- but they should be.

Archives of What's New can be found at http://www.bobpark.org

[Jay Honeck]

> 2018? In 1961 John Kennedy promised the Moon "before this decade
> is out." From a standing start, America was on the moon in seven
> years. Now, after 44 years of "space progress," it's gonna take
> twice as long?

Although on the surface that seems strange, it's not. America now
fritters away over half of its annual expenditures on "entitlements."
There is simply no way we could afford to put the emphasis on an
Apollo-type effort anymore.

So, we'll have to do it "on the cheap" this time -- which is okay.

> What are we looking for? NASA says they'll find
> water, hydrogen and "valuable commodities." On the Moon? Go on!
> Maybe someone takes that seriously, but he's not writing this
> column. We've got robots on Mars right now. Put a few of them
> on the moon. They don't break for lunch, or complain about the
> cold nights, and they live on sunshine. Space exploration with
> humans is about over.

That's crazy. Humanity's future is *not* on this planet. While it may
be premature for us to be taking the first steps off this planet -- I
think history will prove that Apollo was "a bridge too far" -- our
departure from Earth is as inevitable as was our migration to the "New
World" over 500 years ago.

The moon, then Mars, then the stars. Von Braun, Clarke and Asimov were
right -- they were just ahead of his time.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Bob Noel]

In article >,
AES > wrote:

> 2018? In 1961 John Kennedy promised the Moon "before this decade
> is out." From a standing start, America was on the moon in seven
> years.

well, the author starts off with an incorrect statement. In 1961, various
agencies had been working for years on getting into space. "From
a standing start" isn't an accurate characterization of reality.

[snip]
> Space exploration with humans is about over.

I fear it is, but I hope people with vision will help us move beyond
this tiny planet.


> The bills won't come due until Bush is
> safely out of office. Stick the next administration with an
> impossibly expensive and pointless program and let them take the
> blame for ending human space exploration. This is a poison pill.

Does the author actually care about space or is he just another
Bush hater? A Mulcahy of politics?

--
Bob Noel
no one likes an educated mule

[Blueskies]

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message oups.com...
....

> Although on the surface that seems strange, it's not. America now
> fritters away over half of its annual expenditures on "entitlements."
> There is simply no way we could afford to put the emphasis on an
> Apollo-type effort anymore.
>
....

> --
> Jay Honeck
> Iowa City, IA
> Pathfinder N56993
> www.AlexisParkInn.com
> "Your Aviation Destination"
>

Jay, this is the #1 problem with the US economy. We all know the major airlines are in trouble - why? mostly because of
the entitlements. Now if you extrapolate that out to gov't entitlements, the next 50 years are not going to be pretty...

[Dan Luke]

"Richard Riley" wrote:

> Helium 3. ..

>
> Think that's worth going to the moon,...

Yes, that is a very good reason for going to the moon, but not until
several unmanned missions have established practical mining locations
and recovery methods.

> ...or do you prefer keeping the
> poor in their place, despoiling the planet, living it up in your
> country club and complaining about the horrible, horrible republicans?

LOL. Do you work for a talk radio station?

--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

[Mark T. Dame]

Bob Noel wrote:

> In article >,
> AES > wrote:
>
>>Space exploration with humans is about over.
>
> I fear it is, but I hope people with vision will help us move beyond
> this tiny planet.

Government sponsored manned space exploration will continue to decline,
but private sector exploration will takes its place. That's the natural
way of things. Governments sponsor the initial exploration and private
sector takes over. Columbus was government sponsored, but the Pilgrims
were privately funded. Magellan was government funded, Cook privately
funded. And this is a Good Thing.

The part that amazing is not that private funding will take over
government funding, but that it's happening so fast. Figure 300 years
between Columbus/Magellan and the Pilgrims/Cook, but less than fifty
years between Gagarin/Shepherd and Mike Melvill.


-m
--
## Mark T. Dame >
## VP, Product Development
## MFM Software, Inc. (http://www.mfm.com/)
"It could be made into a monster if we all pull together as team."
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