User Panel
Posted: 7/23/2013 6:37:55 PM EDT
Sad to see how far we have declined.
Over 40 years ago we put men on the fucking moon with slide rules and willpower. Just think about that statement for a moment and let it sink in. We don't even have any meaningful space program to speak of these days; and how can we with our current budget priorities? 40 years ago, the government paid its citizens to go to the moon. Today it pays nearly half of its citizens to sit at home and do nothing. I am not surprised that many people these days doubt the authenticity of the Apollo missions. With our culture in general, the culture of mediocrity, apathy and breaking everyone down to the lowest common denominator, nobody is allowed to excel because it would hurt the feelings of those who can't. At one point, my son commented that the astronauts must have been incredibly brave to do what they did. Well, they were. Today, nobody is allowed to be a hero, so we are all stuck with the cowards. Today we can't let the astronauts have the spotlight, because it would hurt the feelings of the guy who mops the bathrooms at mission control. |
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Well when you run multiple wars in multiple countries for decades, I am surprised there is enough money left to turn the lights on. Also, it looks like China is ramping up their space program and we would not want to compete with them, now would we?
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No worries, we can always beg a ride from our enemies and finance it with our other enemies.
btw, when does the kardashians show come on....... |
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I think you are over doing the "culture of mediocrity" thing. It sounds like it's your personal pet peeve and you just had to fit it in somewhere.
We had Affirmative Action and "Inclusiveness" with the space shuttle. They sent females, blacks people and even a Teacher. You better believe they would have sent a janitor if there was good PR to be had. You are spot on about the economics side of it. How can you hope to accomplish great things as a Nation when half your budget is spent paying debt service, and half your Citizens are on welfare? |
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In before those who think that any money spent on space exploration is wasted.
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Look at the bright side. Obama is going to send arms to the Syrian rebels.
'Death to America' Durga, derka. |
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My great uncle Richard Koos was involved with the Apollo project all the way through. He was one of the engineers that would simulate faults while they were building up to the actual missions. He's a pretty cool guy, when I'd met him when I was about 26, I was in awe as if I'd met a superstar. Actually, him an the others all were. From the janitors to the astronauts.
He's mentioned several times in this book. Apollo: The Race to the Moon |
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And in the end, the Russians won the Space Race View Quote Really? On 19 July a space probe exploring Mercury and a space probe exploring Saturn each sent back to us a picture of our planet and our moon. We didn't "lose" the space race, we chose to do our best with the money we could spend on the program. No, they are not manned, but we have robotic probes exploring the surface of Mars, probes studying the Sun and other planets, we (us civilians) can pinpoint our position anywhere on earth to within feet. All the while when the Russians are flying craft with designs that are decades old. And they're bankrupt, depending on us to pay for the ride. No, not glamorous or flashy, but we have hardly lost the space race. |
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I live by the space coast and get depressed when I hear the radio advertisements for "have lunch with an astronaut!" from Kennedy Space Center.
Even the heroes are museum pieces |
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I don't understand. Didn't the aliens bitch-slap us last time we went to the moon and told us not to come back, ever? |
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Sad to see how far we have declined. Over 40 years ago we put men on the fucking moon with slide rules and willpower. Just think about that statement for a moment and let it sink in. We don't even have any meaningful space program to speak of these days; and how can we with our current budget priorities? 40 years ago, the government paid its citizens to go to the moon. Today it pays nearly half of its citizens to sit at home and do nothing. I am not surprised that many people these days doubt the authenticity of the Apollo missions. With our culture in general, the culture of mediocrity, apathy and breaking everyone down to the lowest common denominator, nobody is allowed to excel because it would hurt the feelings of those who can't. At one point, my son commented that the astronauts must have been incredibly brave to do what they did. Well, they were. Today, nobody is allowed to be a hero, so we are all stuck with the cowards. Today we can't let the astronauts have the spotlight, because it would hurt the feelings of the guy who mops the bathrooms at mission control. View Quote yep, don't even think of sending your kid to school with a PBand J sammich. That shit is outlawed because 1 in 100 kids say they don't like PB so mom get's a Dr's note that Jessica is allergic. Oh and spelling isn't important, just spell it how you think it should be spelled. History lessons, naw, nothing before the civil rights era. Oh, fuck don't even bother, we'll just see little jonny get socially passed as long as he knows it's ok to have two mommies on a bicycle. Oh and when Janey wants to go to college with a record of 1 B and 4 A's in her senior year, nope she ain't getting a scholarship, her skin isn't the right color, that scholarship will go to someone with 1 B and 4 C's of the right color. Oh well they all might have done better if half the class time wasn't spent on the drooling window licker causing a disturbance who can't quite remember what yesterday was all about. ETA- how did I forget Nasa's current mission is to make the arabs feel better about their stone aged selves. yep it's cruel but we're not doing so hot anymore. you figure out why?has b get over this media driven guilt bullshit sorry the wild turkey has been opened . |
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Did you teach your son about Stanley Kubrick filmed the moon landing and it was fake?
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Really? On 19 July a space probe exploring Mercury and a space probe exploring Saturn each sent back to us a picture of our planet and our moon. We didn't "lose" the space race, we chose to do our best with the money we could spend on the program. No, they are not manned, but we have robotic probes exploring the surface of Mars, probes studying the Sun and other planets, we (us civilians) can pinpoint our position anywhere on earth to within feet. All the while when the Russians are flying craft with designs that are decades old. And they're bankrupt, depending on us to pay for the ride. No, not glamorous or flashy, but we have hardly lost the space race. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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And in the end, the Russians won the Space Race Really? On 19 July a space probe exploring Mercury and a space probe exploring Saturn each sent back to us a picture of our planet and our moon. We didn't "lose" the space race, we chose to do our best with the money we could spend on the program. No, they are not manned, but we have robotic probes exploring the surface of Mars, probes studying the Sun and other planets, we (us civilians) can pinpoint our position anywhere on earth to within feet. All the while when the Russians are flying craft with designs that are decades old. And they're bankrupt, depending on us to pay for the ride. No, not glamorous or flashy, but we have hardly lost the space race. This and then some. CarbineDad, how exactly did their victories exceed ours? |
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Government-funded spaceflight may be dead in the water, but I am still highly optimistic about the future of space exploration. I believe most of the major innovations in space travel will come from the private sector, but that doesn't make it any worse, in fact, they will probably be able to do it better, and without trying negotiate the bureaucracy of the US Government.
If it is more profitable to make a manned Mars mission a reality show, then so be it. At the end of the day, a human will still have set foot on Mars. |
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Government has no business ....
End regulation on .... Private markets respond, if needed .... Profit for all. |
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Exactly when did a Russian set foot on another world? View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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And in the end, the Russians won the Space Race Exactly when did a Russian set foot on another world? When is the Russian (or Soviet) satellite going to leave the solar system? |
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Sad to see how far we have declined. Over 40 years ago we put men on the fucking moon with slide rules and willpower. Just think about that statement for a moment and let it sink in. We don't even have any meaningful space program to speak of these days; and how can we with our current budget priorities? 40 years ago, the government paid its citizens to go to the moon. Today it pays nearly half of its citizens to sit at home and do nothing. I am not surprised that many people these days doubt the authenticity of the Apollo missions. With our culture in general, the culture of mediocrity, apathy and breaking everyone down to the lowest common denominator, nobody is allowed to excel because it would hurt the feelings of those who can't. At one point, my son commented that the astronauts must have been incredibly brave to do what they did. Well, they were. Today, nobody is allowed to be a hero, so we are all stuck with the cowards. Today we can't let the astronauts have the spotlight, because it would hurt the feelings of the guy who mops the bathrooms at mission control. View Quote If you want to make him really sad and angry, take him to the Houston Space Center. They have the Saturn V that was supposed to send Apollo 18 to the moon. The men were trained, the ground support staff was ready, the rocket was built, the landing site was picked out--and then Nixon cancelled the whole thing, supposedly to save money. The rocket impressed the hell out of me. The decision not to fly it, not so much. |
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Funny you should mention 17, the family was watching old home movies last night and at the young age of 2(Oct 1972) I did get to see that stack on the launch pad.
Would have really liked to see a Saturn V launch, never liked the shuttle program so much so even at space camp many years ago I spent all the free time climbing in and around in the Apollo capsule they had. Must have been fun going to the moon in something the size of a standard cab ford f150 with two other guys. |
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I agree that I would rather have a good space program than have money go to the FSA or the other BS that it does. That said, a good space program is a luxury, luxuries are the first thing to go when you're hugely in debt and can barely pay your bills.
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That's entirely not true, our robotic missions are doing awesome things, they just don't have the appeal of putting boots on the ground. Kepler has CONFIRMED the existence of 134 planets outside of our solar system, with over 3,000 more potential candidates. This is a radar image of the surface of titan http://blogs.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/files/2009/09/titan_north_polar-1024x501.jpg and don't forget about curiosity http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/_archive/TechScience/_Mars/ss-120809-mars-rover/ss-121109-mars-curiosity-tease.photoblog900.jpg View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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Sad to see how far we have declined. We don't even have any meaningful space program to speak of these days; That's entirely not true, our robotic missions are doing awesome things, they just don't have the appeal of putting boots on the ground. Kepler has CONFIRMED the existence of 134 planets outside of our solar system, with over 3,000 more potential candidates. This is a radar image of the surface of titan http://blogs.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/files/2009/09/titan_north_polar-1024x501.jpg and don't forget about curiosity http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/_archive/TechScience/_Mars/ss-120809-mars-rover/ss-121109-mars-curiosity-tease.photoblog900.jpg Yep - we are doing more exploration with less funding. We have a probe going to Pluto as well. They are looking for signs of life on Europa and Titan. The number of known extra solar planets continues to grow. |
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In a few hundred years' time I honestly think that the first moon landing will be seen as the moment western civilization peaked. The rot had already set in by then to be sure, but that moment truly captured western man's ingenuity, spirit, vision, and collective capacity.
How far we've fallen...and this is only the beginning... |
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View Quote I've seen my share of those CDDT & launch manuals. There was a lot accomplished with the manned missions, but there was also the "let's get there before the Rooskies" factor which led to a lot of wasted effort. Now manned flight is of very limited value and missions can be accomplished without it. Unfortunately, we've diverted resources to less productive ventures that result in more and more people dependent on government handouts and fewer and fewer technological advances. |
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In a few hundred years' time I honestly think that the first moon landing will be seen as the moment western civilization peaked. The rot had already set in by then to be sure, but that moment truly captured western man's ingenuity, spirit, vision, and collective capacity. How far we've fallen...and this is only the beginning... View Quote An interesting observation. That, the Vietnam War, and the rise of the Welfare State, morphing into tomorrows totalitarian police state. |
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Space Expolration was always tied to the cold war and the arms race with the USSR. Now that the race is over, we have no need to explore space. The ISS is a joke and is only in 'space' by technical definition.
Let China say they are going to put a military base on Mars and we will be walking on the surface of the planet in a year. |
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while it sucks that we are no longer putting guys on the moon, we are still doing kick ass things. Look at all the probes we have sent to various bodies, some amazing work being done.
I agree that it is sad to see the decline, but don't shit all over the work that is being done, it all matters |
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you guys should watch this, not really for scientific value, it's just freaking cool
Vimeo - Around Saturn |
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Really? On 19 July a space probe exploring Mercury and a space probe exploring Saturn each sent back to us a picture of our planet and our moon. We didn't "lose" the space race, we chose to do our best with the money we could spend on the program. No, they are not manned, but we have robotic probes exploring the surface of Mars, probes studying the Sun and other planets, we (us civilians) can pinpoint our position anywhere on earth to within feet. All the while when the Russians are flying craft with designs that are decades old. And they're bankrupt, depending on us to pay for the ride. No, not glamorous or flashy, but we have hardly lost the space race. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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And in the end, the Russians won the Space Race Really? On 19 July a space probe exploring Mercury and a space probe exploring Saturn each sent back to us a picture of our planet and our moon. We didn't "lose" the space race, we chose to do our best with the money we could spend on the program. No, they are not manned, but we have robotic probes exploring the surface of Mars, probes studying the Sun and other planets, we (us civilians) can pinpoint our position anywhere on earth to within feet. All the while when the Russians are flying craft with designs that are decades old. And they're bankrupt, depending on us to pay for the ride. No, not glamorous or flashy, but we have hardly lost the space race. we do not possess the means to put a Man in orbit, the russians do..they win |
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we do not possess the means to put a Man in orbit, the russians do..they win View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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And in the end, the Russians won the Space Race Really? On 19 July a space probe exploring Mercury and a space probe exploring Saturn each sent back to us a picture of our planet and our moon. We didn't "lose" the space race, we chose to do our best with the money we could spend on the program. No, they are not manned, but we have robotic probes exploring the surface of Mars, probes studying the Sun and other planets, we (us civilians) can pinpoint our position anywhere on earth to within feet. All the while when the Russians are flying craft with designs that are decades old. And they're bankrupt, depending on us to pay for the ride. No, not glamorous or flashy, but we have hardly lost the space race. we do not possess the means to put a Man in orbit, the russians do..they win There's a little more to than that. The Russians have big cheap rockets. We have a rover on Mars. We absolutely won the space race and continue to do things no other country can even dream of. |
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Let me make you sadder....just google the current Chinese space plans for a space station & "trips to other worlds"
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Let me make you sadder....just google the current Chinese space plans for a space station & "trips to other worlds"
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We got bigger things to worry about these days. Like changing the climate. 4 seasons per year is way too many. No more floods or droughts. Equal distribution of precipitation for everyone and just the right amount of wind and sun to power the green energy crap.
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we do not possess the means to put a Man in orbit, the russians do..they win View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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And in the end, the Russians won the Space Race Really? On 19 July a space probe exploring Mercury and a space probe exploring Saturn each sent back to us a picture of our planet and our moon. We didn't "lose" the space race, we chose to do our best with the money we could spend on the program. No, they are not manned, but we have robotic probes exploring the surface of Mars, probes studying the Sun and other planets, we (us civilians) can pinpoint our position anywhere on earth to within feet. All the while when the Russians are flying craft with designs that are decades old. And they're bankrupt, depending on us to pay for the ride. No, not glamorous or flashy, but we have hardly lost the space race. we do not possess the means to put a Man in orbit, the russians do..they win a 45 year old spacecraft does not make them a winner, and it's sad that you think putting humans in space is the defining element of a space program. |
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Exactly when did a Russian set foot on another world? View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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And in the end, the Russians won the Space Race Exactly when did a Russian set foot on another world? They didnt, but they still have a space program. NASA's new mission is muslim outreach... |
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I don't know if you guys realize, but NASA is forging ahead with the next generation launch vehicle. A friend of mine is on the team currently designing and testing the next generation J-2, and another team is re-engineering a better F-1 main.
The SLS heavy lifter is very much alive and the goal is, according to everyone at NASA, they're going to use it to shoot for the moon. Obama and his administration will be out by the time testing of the Orion assembly begins, he represents nothing more than a speed bump to NASA. ETA: Constellation was cancelled by Obama, now it's called SLS. Obama's Muslim outreach program got dick slapped in congress and NASA's new SLS program was born in 2010 shortly thereafter. But you didn't hear about that because, well, it would make Obama look bad and the media can't have that. |
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Well when you run multiple wars in multiple countries for decades, I am surprised there is enough money left to turn the lights on. Also, it looks like China is ramping up their space program and we would not want to compete with them, now would we? View Quote And they're not signatories to the partial nuclear test ban treaty so... nuclear pulse propulsion? |
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I know people that still think it was staged. These are not tin foil hat people either just normal everyday people with kids & jobs that think the tech to put a man on the moon was just imposable to do at that time & the political cold war statement of 1st to put a man on the moon had to be done any way it could.
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I know people that still think it was staged. These are not tin foil hat people either just normal everyday people with kids & jobs that think the tech to put a man on the moon was just imposable to do at that time & the political cold war statement of 1st to put a man on the moon had to be done any way it could. View Quote And I'm sure the Russians would have called us out on it if it was faked. |
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And I'm sure the Russians would have called us out on it if it was faked. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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I know people that still think it was staged. These are not tin foil hat people either just normal everyday people with kids & jobs that think the tech to put a man on the moon was just imposable to do at that time & the political cold war statement of 1st to put a man on the moon had to be done any way it could. And I'm sure the Russians would have called us out on it if it was faked. Agreed. John Young was has always been one of my heroes-both for Apollo 16 and flying the first shuttle |
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