SpaceShipOne/Discovery Channel porn

G.R. Patterson III wrote:


Corky Scott wrote:

Tell me again what the point is in being lobbed into near space?


Well, I grew up reading Heinlein, Asimov, Blish, and the like. *We* were going
into space. Not some government clowns - *we* were going. Space stations would
be built by union tradespeople. Entrepreneurs would build shipping companies
that flew rockets.

Then NASA came along. During the 70s, they worked very hard at preventing any
private enterprise in space, and they very effectively killed that dream.

NASA didn't kill that dream. What killed it was that no one came up
with a way for those potential entrepreneurs to make any money in
space. The Heinlein/Asimov/etc. scenarios have the hidden premise
that the energy required for space travel is incredibly cheap and
therefore it's cost effective to mine asteroids, build micro-g
manufacturing facilities, establish lunar and planetary bases and
so on.

Peter wrote:

NASA didn't kill that dream.

Yes, they did. The U.S. government effectively blocked all attempts by private
U.S. companies to enter the market of launching payloads into space and put
political pressure on foreign companies (such as Messerschmitt) who also
attempted to do so. This was covered fairly effectively by interested parties in
the press during the 70s.

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.

G.R. Patterson III wrote:
Peter wrote:

NASA didn't kill that dream.

Yes, they did. The U.S. government effectively blocked all attempts by private
U.S. companies to enter the market of launching payloads into space and put
political pressure on foreign companies (such as Messerschmitt) who also
attempted to do so.

The only reason it was effective was that no one had a clear way of
making a profitable business in space. If there had been fortunes
to be made then political pressure would not have succeeded.

Recently, G.R. Patterson III posted:

Corky Scott wrote:

Tell me again what the point is in being lobbed into near space?

Well, I grew up reading Heinlein, Asimov, Blish, and the like. *We*
were going into space. Not some government clowns - *we* were going.
Space stations would be built by union tradespeople. Entrepreneurs
would build shipping companies that flew rockets.

Then NASA came along. During the 70s, they worked very hard at
preventing any private enterprise in space, and they very effectively
killed that dream. For thirty years. If someone needed a carpenter in
space, NASA would hand a hammer to one of their astronauts, but *we*
weren't going anywhere.

It's too late for Rutan to make that dream live again for me, but
he's made it possible for my stepson. And my nephew.

The dream presented by Heinlein et al was not acheivable by private
industry without creating all kinds of difficulties for the rest of the
planet. Just look at the topics that are foremost in the minds of the
world's citizenry today, and one can see that we just aren't ready to
undertake more activities that can have instant global consequences than
we do now. As I see it, we're marching along at about our best pace.

Neil

Corky Scott wrote in message . ..

Tell me again what the point is in being lobbed into near space? Try
as I might, I just cannot figure out how it helps explore space, or
helps GA or mankind or anything.

Alan Sheppard might want to argue that point if he were still
around. Even NASA had to start with a short, sub-orbital flight.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

On Fri, 03 Dec 2004 09:41:20 -0500, Corky Scott
wrote:



Tell me again what the point is in being lobbed into near space? Try
as I might, I just cannot figure out how it helps explore space, or
helps GA or mankind or anything. To me it just appears a technical
stunt, the aviation/space equivalent of Evel Knieval jumping a bunch
of cars on a motorcycle, only less dangerous.

Oh yes I forgot, they won a 10 million dollar prize after spending 25
million on the project. And now they're soliciting money from us
through EAA. Is that it? It's a money maker for Rutan?

Corky Scott

Corky, like you I see it as a useless exercise. My first leg across
australia is 320 nautical miles, Rutan's flight was only 100 miles so
what is the big deal.

In many areas of the world you could not embark on such an activity
ever so on one count it is a celebration of the freedoms that we in
the western world take for granted in our daily lives.

Rutan proved nothing new but the activity was such a different thing
to go for that many around the world followed it with great interest.
It demonstrated that if you get off your arse and apply some
intelligence to what you aspire to and set about, then you *can*
achieve interesting things. If just 100 of the inspired observers set
off to pursue something themselves what wonderful improvements in the
world they might achieve.
We've just had a series shown on australian TV called "Inventions from
the shed" which tracked some truely useless inventions brewed up in
backyard workshops. I mean who would want a laser imaging,
computerised, automated oyster sorting machine, but a small group of
guys beavered away for a few years putting the technology together and
actually made it work and improved an oddball little industry in the
process. The contribution that people like Rutan and the oyster
sorters make is not so much in their direct efforts but in inspiring
the world that it is still an interesting place, there is still more
to be explored and understood. Some of those whacky offshoot ideas may
just be developed into technologies and approaches that do actually
matter, do actually improve life on earth.

who would have thought that the edge of the practical air was just 100
miles up? makes you want to take better care of it doesnt it.

Stealth ( do it again :-) ) Pilot

On Sat, 04 Dec 2004 18:20:31 +0800, Stealth Pilot
wrote:

On Fri, 03 Dec 2004 09:41:20 -0500, Corky Scott
wrote:



Tell me again what the point is in being lobbed into near space? Try
as I might, I just cannot figure out how it helps explore space, or
helps GA or mankind or anything. To me it just appears a technical
stunt, the aviation/space equivalent of Evel Knieval jumping a bunch
of cars on a motorcycle, only less dangerous.

Oh yes I forgot, they won a 10 million dollar prize after spending 25
million on the project. And now they're soliciting money from us
through EAA. Is that it? It's a money maker for Rutan?

Corky Scott

Corky, like you I see it as a useless exercise. My first leg across
australia is 320 nautical miles, Rutan's flight was only 100 miles so
what is the big deal.

In many areas of the world you could not embark on such an activity
ever so on one count it is a celebration of the freedoms that we in
the western world take for granted in our daily lives.

Rutan proved nothing new but the activity was such a different thing
to go for that many around the world followed it with great interest.
It demonstrated that if you get off your arse and apply some
intelligence to what you aspire to and set about, then you *can*
achieve interesting things. If just 100 of the inspired observers set
off to pursue something themselves what wonderful improvements in the
world they might achieve.
We've just had a series shown on australian TV called "Inventions from
the shed" which tracked some truely useless inventions brewed up in
backyard workshops. I mean who would want a laser imaging,
computerised, automated oyster sorting machine, but a small group of
guys beavered away for a few years putting the technology together and
actually made it work and improved an oddball little industry in the
process. The contribution that people like Rutan and the oyster
sorters make is not so much in their direct efforts but in inspiring
the world that it is still an interesting place, there is still more
to be explored and understood. Some of those whacky offshoot ideas may
just be developed into technologies and approaches that do actually
matter, do actually improve life on earth.

who would have thought that the edge of the practical air was just 100
miles up? makes you want to take better care of it doesnt it.

Stealth ( do it again :-) ) Pilot


Corky I just stumbled on a quote which had me thinking of you.

"Technology developed to deliver adhesive consistently and
economically to timber joints is finding applications far beyond its
original objective.
The in-line mixing and metering systems developed by WA Strouds in
conjunction with Forest Research are becoming familiar in many
remanufacturing plants.
However they are also finding applications in a number of diverse
manufacturing processes, ranging from boat building and medical
machinery to electronic components--even fish finders. "

sparks mate. we need more intellectual sparks.
Stealth Pilot

"Corky Scott" wrote in message ...
On Thu, 2 Dec 2004 08:44:28 -0800, "gatt"
wrote:

snip

Oh yes I forgot, they won a 10 million dollar prize after spending 25
million on the project. And now they're soliciting money from us
through EAA. Is that it? It's a money maker for Rutan?

Corky Scott


Rutan is soliciting for the EAA, not himself. So it cost them 15 million of someone else's money to successfully light
off an oversized Estes rocket from a free fall. Sounds like a pretty cool ride to me! Wish I could have been there...

--
Dan D.
http://www.ameritech.net/users/ddevillers/start.html


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