OT (?): Manned Space Flight

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

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
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