Today marked the end of the space shuttle program. The space shuttle, like my love for you, but unlike the internet, was like a truck. Now, I'm not knocking the shuttle program- one radio pundit mentioned the critical role the shuttles played in the construction of the International Space Station and Hubble Telescope, and the advances made in orbital construction techniques, but the emphasis on the shuttle program has pretty much kept Homo sapiens from busting out of Earth's orbit. Of course, the untenanted probes and robotic rovers have been doing a yeomachine's job, but we have had nothing to compare to the Apollo Program in the last three decades.
Unfortunately, I really don't see a bright near-term future for NASA because our society is so messed up... our legislature is busy building a bridge to the 19th Century and well-funded organizations are trying to repeal reality. Still, I have to think that our sense of wonder hasn't been totally crushed, and that the species will get its shit together and will once again seek to land on another chunk of rock hurtling through the void.
Again, while I think that the shuttle program ultimately was a bit of developmental cul-de-sac, I'd be lying if I told you I didn't see an inherent coolness in space trucking:
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yeah, wasn't it supposed to provide a permanent presence in near earth orbit, from which deeper space missions could be leveraged?
But to do that, you would have to USE, you know,the leverage; not just let the truck rust away. cash money would need to be spent on SCIENCE and building stuff, rather than on interesting new ways to blow up piles of money and brown people. Oh, and tax cuts for rich people. THAT will get us into space, Spaceships One and Two notwithstanding.
Incidentally, a couple of years ago I saw SS1 fly at the EAA Fly-IN, and it was awesome. and loud. But it can't perform like the Shuttle has, not yet.
So, we better be really nice to the Russians for the foreseeable future. Hah, "future" he says with a rueful sigh.
When I mentioned the Sapce Shuttle as a rusting truck, I got a mental picture of trucknutz on it.
As you say, there's not much that can be done with the current crop of idiots in Congress. But let me ask a small thing.
The current NASA appropriation eliminates funding for the James Webb Space Telescope, the replacement for Hubble, even after years and more than three billion dollars have already been spent.
It's incredibly important to research in cosmology and astrophysics that this next gen space telescope get on station.
Obviously, the request is that you take a minute to contact your Congresspeeps. I did, but that's ultimately kind of unsat for me - my Senators are Boxer and Feinstein, and my Rep is Jackie Speier, and they very seldom if ever vote in a manner at odds with how I would want them to. So telling them to do something they're already going to do doesn't change the equation a great deal.
So it's on some of you other folks to find JWST some votes...
It's incredibly important to research in cosmology and astrophysics that this next gen space telescope get on station.
It's more important to read the Bible to get the real scoop!!!
My rep. is Eliot Engel, who is awesome. I'll drop him a note, but he's a good, geeky guy.
I like this version of Ted.
The embarrassing part of the Space Shuttle Program was when it wouldn't stop humping those planes.
I used that version of Ted in a prior post, which also included a link to "Berserker". Damn, I'm not that original when it comes to linking.
You know, teh Shuttle wasn't really a truck. All teh trucking is done by big-ass rockets. Teh shuttle is moar of a bus because it's payload was passengers. Maybe that'll be enough for McGravitas to forgive it's jet humping tendencies.
I'm kinda glad the Shuttle program is gone. It wasn't particularly useful for anything. You couldn't land teh shuttle on "another piece of rock". You couldn't actually do further missions with it since its range was LEO and using it as a component of bigger further missions only makes sense if those missions are manned. Which no one is ready for, nor will they be anytime soon. Even if Congress decided to stop being suicidal sociopathic dicks.
What's needed right now for space exploration is either a lot moar focus on alternative methods of escaping teh gravity well or a beefed up rocket program.
Frankly, we get a lot more science done with unmanned probes than with manned craft like the Shuttle. Now, when NASA is ready to build a kickass moon base, or especially a kickass Mars base, I'll be all for that, but in the meantime Hubble and a bevy of unmanned probes will probably do more to expand our understanding of the universe.
But if you are interested in manned spaceflight, keep an eye on the Orion program. A lot of its funding has been stripped away, but for the time being they have plans to land on a NEO and then maybe someday Mars. Hopefully. Assuming there aren't further massive budget cuts. >_>
I am gonna come down on Dragon-King like a big old space-baby zombie, but for any sustained effort at moving out into the solar system, the Shuttle would have been invaluable.
We would need the ability to make consistent, reliable, and frequent trips to near-earth orbit deliveries of all kinds of stuff. I don't see a reasonable way to increase our travel in even the near reaches of the Solar System without doing a hella lot of work in orbit. And the Shuttle was a pretty good vehicle for doing that; reusable and durable as all fuck.
The depressing thing is that in the absence of the Shuttle program, and also in the absence a big push from prominent economies, there is no path forward from this point that anybody has delineated. The ISS is awesome, but it is static does not afford the ability to push further.
There is no such person as Zefram Cochrane, and the "earth is far too fragile a basket for humans to keep all their eggs in". so Where do the resources to get anywhere else come from? Rand Paul's magic power generator?
The dream dies....
my Senators are Boxer and Feinstein, and my Rep is Jackie Speier, and they very seldom if ever vote in a manner at odds with how I would want them to
Different rep (mine is a commie liberal too) same senators. I'm politically useless.
Not only are we "so screwed," we're stuck on this effing rock for the immediate (my remaining life-span) future.
Now on to IMPORTANT issues; hey, BBBB, since you are such a repository of knowledge of a wide variety of drink and food of various lands; Wife Sublime snagged a bottle of something called Cachaca Sabor De Minas while she was in Sao Paulo, and I would like to know if you have knowledge of the best way to imbibe?
Also, it was very amusing that when I saw Berlin at Summerfest, Terri Nunn related a story of going to a local restaurant (amusingly, occupying the ground floor of one of my projects) and the owner brought his own limoncello, to which she said "the responded like it was crack, drinking all of his limoncello and, in fact, making him bring out the bottles that were not quite ready".
So there you go; when Berlin comes to NY, you know how to attract Terri Nunn to your domus.
...until BBBB responds, I will just go on drinking this Hornitoa by the shot....
I mean, not to mention the dirty big N__B rum an cokes with mikey's cheap-ass rum.
Hornitos.
As if you guys didn't know that.
I blame Grover Norquist, because he is a pong-breasted bongbag.
It don't matter, ultimately. The key figure is cost per kilogram lifted. And we need to get that number WAY down before we can do anything but pretend. ISS is a costly boondoggle, more about politics than science.
And I just assumed Hornitoa was something I didn't know about and was gonna have to czech out...
We need a lot more science before we waste a lot of resources sending carbon/water based life forms out as far as we can.
So say we all!
/BSG
~
I would like to know if you have knowledge of the best way to imbibe
Applying the open end of the bottle to mouth has always worked for me.
The whole point behind the shuttle and the ISS was to provide a starting point for space exploration outside the gravity well of earth.
As such, it gets an incomplete on its report card. One can imagine that, had there not been two major disasters and a string of minor hitches, the program would have better fulfilled its goals.
But it had what it had, and we've had to imrpovise beyond that. Many pure science experiments were performed in space that could never have been done on a "light 'em up and crash 'em down" mission, B^4. You're being a little unfair
Hey, late defending myself but here goes.
Reuseable? What good is that?
We got to teh moon on rockets. The shuttle used to launch with rockets. Rockets are teh important part but no one cares about them because oooh lookit teh shiny spaceplane!
How much does a cheap one-shot re-entry vehicle weigh? A fuckton less than a shuttle. For teh same energy expenditure you'd get plenty moar launches per shuttle mission.
Teh whole program evolved out of military thinking. And so teh vehicle was designed like an airplane. Because that's what teh NASA folks were comfortable with. Nevermind that when dealing with climbing out of teh gravity well, every gram counts. Oh, we'll just layer on all this extra stuff so that teh shuttle will be reuseable.
Teh goal was to get people out into space - so we'll build a fancier version of an airplane! The shuttle is a giant symbol of lack of imagination. Getting into space for reals (and not just some EVAs and maybe another moon landing) will require us to let go of our pre-conceived notions of transportation. You can't "fly" to teh moon (and beyond) you gotta "lift" yourself there.
Also too, on a moar practical note - all teh other hardware, your fuel tanks and burners for LEO delta V, your lab/habitation space/communications and control stuff. All of that stuff that you no longer need when you want to return teh crew to Mother Earth. You could leave it in space. Not as space junk, but now that we've got an orbital ISS, you could just attach them pieces on to it.
Then teh next time you launch - instead of taking up teh massive amounts of extra crap associated with a reuseable shuttle - you take moar consumable supplies and fuel. Because you already launched teh hardware last time. And didn't have to return it to teh bottom of teh well every single fricking mission. It's kinda like carrying a La-Z boy up twenty flights of stairs so you can have a nice place to sit in your apartment - and then carrying it back down teh stairs when you leave the building. Every time you go home.
As to teh argument that there are pure science experiments that were done on teh shuttle but couldn't be done with ELVs - sure. But not so much now that we've got Teh ISS.
I thought it was all about the Laser Defense.
Wife Sublime snagged a bottle of something called Cachaca Sabor De Minas while she was in Sao Paulo, and I would like to know if you have knowledge of the best way to imbibe?
That's a no-brainer, old chum! Get yourself some limes and mix up some capirinhas.
So there you go; when Berlin comes to NY, you know how to attract Terri Nunn to your domus.
Your ideas intrigue me, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter!
I just have to say, I love the discussion on this post. Gadzooks, you people are a sexy bunch of brainiacs.
Applying the open end of the bottle to mouth has always worked for me.
Smartass brainiacs!
I thought it was all about the Laser Defense.
I think the original plans for a shuttle predate SDI, but I have no doubt that SDI played a big role in ramping up the shuttle project.
A few points: Teh Shuttle was conceived post-Apollo, when recycling and love-your-Mother was all the rage. The concept stems directly from that urge, which is noble enough and on a certain conceptual level makes sense: why throw away all that hardware if you can re-use it?
Still, I have to think that our sense of wonder hasn't been totally crushed, and that the species will get its shit together and will once again seek to land on another chunk of rock hurtling through the void.
I think the species will continue to explore space. It just won't be Americans leading the charge. Europe and especially China are moving into the lead and as far as I can tell, given our collective insanity, look good for staying there for the forseeable future.
w/v wishes that you won't hollat me for my opinions.
Of course not, old chum- I love the commentariat here.
Applying the open end of the bottle to mouth has always worked for me.
But you are upside down!
I agree that we need to be able to do more work in orbit if we're going to move beyond that, but the space shuttle just wasn't the way, for reasons that DKW has already elaborated upon.
Space elevator's where it's at, man. Make getting to orbit cheap and easy and you're halfway to Mars (just, y'kow, not literally). Assemble the spacecraft in orbit and you save a lot of fuel lifting its ass up off the ground. (Fuck you, JJ Abrams. Fuck you.)
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