Shuttle Discovery

[Gumby]

I'm sure a lot of us remember all the thrilling space explorations in our youth!

I remember the Apollo 8 astronauts circling the Moon and reading from Genesis at Christmas 1968. And the famous picture of "Earthrise". It had been a bad year in the USA and we really needed that.

I remember even better watching the Apollo 11 landing on July 20, 1969. We were living in Hawaii and it was late morning. I was at my neighbor's house, where all the kids (and our moms) were glued to the TV watching the final approach. We were holding our collective breath, and when the words "Houston, Tranquility Base here..." came over the air, we all ran outside, jumping up and down, cheering like crazy. Looking up and down the street, we saw the same thing happening at all the other houses on the block.

It's hard to envision what event today could evoke the same spontaneous outburst of joy among everyone in our country. I wish that we could somehow recapture that spirit of collective effort and pride.

 

[Purron]

It's hard to envision what event today could evoke the same spontaneous outburst of joy among everyone in our country. I wish that we could somehow recapture that spirit of collective effort and pride.

Me too.

 

[clifp]

It's hard to envision what event today could evoke the same spontaneous outburst of joy among everyone in our country. I wish that we could somehow recapture that spirit of collective effort and pride.

I'd say that significant portion of the scientist and engineers in their 40's to 60s were inspired to take the hard science and math course because of the space program. Other than the dreams of joining a start up and getting rich there isn't much to inspire this generation.

I am going to be rooting for Space X on April 30 for the Dragons trip to the Space Station. Not so much for this particular trip but because Elon Musk seems determined to make a colony on Mars and sadly I think he has a better chance of pulling it off than NASA.

 

[Chuckanut]

I am going to be rooting for Space X on April 30 for the Dragons trip to the Space Station. Not so much for this particular trip but because Elon Musk seems determined to make a colony on Mars

I agree. Mr. Musk and his crew at SpaceX are the only folks around who seem to have that drive and vision we saw in the 60's and 70's. They were willing to take some good risks to achieve their goal.

I still remember the amazing Saturn V moon rocket. The most powerful machine ever built and it never failed. As I recall some cautious people wanted to have three test launches, the first with only a working 1st stage, the second with working 1st and 2nd stages, and the 3rd with all three stages working. Von Braughn thought that since all the tests had been going well, they might as well just launch all three working stages at once. Risky, but it worked. Later, they decided to send the Apollo 8 astronauts around the moon rather thatn simply into earth orbit as had been planned. After all, everything tested out well, so why wait? Again, a risky decision but a good calcluated risk, not a foolish one.

 

[Chuckanut]

Speaking of putting a colony on Mars, here is as good discussion of the problems that will need to be overcome just to get to Mars and back. My feeling is that we will need a better propulsion system so as to reduce the amount of time astronauts are exposed to the hazards of space.

NOVA | Can We Make It to Mars?

 

[M Paquette]

Speaking of putting a colony on Mars, here is as good discussion of the problems that will need to be overcome just to get to Mars and back. My feeling is that we will need a better propulsion system so as to reduce the amount of time astronauts are exposed to the hazards of space.

NOVA | Can We Make It to Mars?

Well, there's the VASIMR engine. It'll need some sort of relatively low mass, high energy power plant. Hmmm...

And then there's old Bang Bang... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)

How about a 10,000 ton spacecraft direct to Mars? Delivering a 5,300 ton payload? Instant colony. I can already hear the screams of the protesters. (as the biggest nuclear blast for light years around continues to burn in the middle of the solar system...)

 

[GSMAN]

Discovery

It sure looks beat up -- I guess we got our money's worth.

Do you think they will clean it up before they put it on display? Should they?

Those Orbiters do look pretty beat up. They go through some extremely harsh environments to say the least. Cruising at 17000 MPH and exceeding external temperatures beyond 3000 degress takes it toll on the vehicles. They are not going to be cleaned up at all. The TPS tiles are extremely fragile. One of the requirements from the museum was that they wanted the Orbiter delivered "as is" showing the wear of space flight on the vehicles. Funny thing the Intrepid museum, who is getting Enterprise shuttle, test article never flew in space, was disappointed that it didn't look more "beat up". Anyway, us folks in Houston are still ticked about only getting a "wooden" model of a shuttle to display at Space Center Houston! We did have a little something to do with the shuttle program for a couple of decades.

 

[TromboneAl]

I agree. Mr. Musk and his crew at SpaceX are the only folks around who seem to have that drive and vision we saw in the 60's and 70's.

Don't forget Kim Jung Un.