The failure of a Soyuz rocket to send a supply ship into space last week may mean that the International Space Station will have to be temporarily abandoned for the first time since 2000, Florida Today reports.
Russian space vehicles are the only means of ferrying crews and supplies to the station now that the U.S. space shuttle program has ended.
Last week, the third-stage failure of a Soyuz rocket sent an unmanned Progress supply ship crashing into Siberia.
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Isn’t that a direct result of the decision to defund NASA and stop the Space Shuttle program?
It’s too bad we live in times of regressive, anti-science politicians. Moreover, there are worthy things that private enterprise just can’t/ shouldn’t do.
Going to leave this here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQTyktUuC4g
Our mistake was relying on manned spacecraft (Shuttle) for supply. We should have developed unmanned supply systems.
#1 – I’m aware that the Space Shuttle program has ended. I am not aware of any “de-funding of NASA”. As far as I know, NASA and every other government department will continue to get increased funding (thanks to base-line budgeting) for the rest of time. (Or until the Chinese get tired of loaning the U.S. money.)
As for private enterprise “can’t or shouldn’t”. SpaceX can and will.
We may have reached our Zenith in Space OCCUPATION. Too expensive. too little direct return.
Reality.
The Russians are not the only game for carrying cargo. The European Space Agency has the Automated Transfer Vehicle, the Japanese have the HTV, and SpaceX is about to receive certification to fly the ISS by the end of this year.
Carrying people is a whole other story with all hopes on the US side now lying with SpaceX.
#3, I think my choice of words was poor. NASA is not being defunded, but its budget is being cut.
In 2004, GWB issued a directive to stop the shuttle program, but it seems like there was either not enough effort put on the Constellation program to succeed it, or a veiled effort to discontinue most space exploration altogether.
As far as “until the Chinese get tired of loaning the U.S. money”… I know that losing the 7.5% of borrowing power would hurt — a little — but over 62% of the debt is still held by US people and entities: http://www.businessinsider.com/who-owns-the-us-national-debt-2011-1
#4 – Bobbo — I disagree. There’s a lot of return from all the research. See the video I posted before. The cost of the space program was minimal when compared, for example, to stupid wars we got NO benefit from — and a lot of people got killed. Aside from that… How about GPS (look at all the business it generates!)? Water filtration systems? Miniaturization of ICs? Heart pumps? What about the harder to measure effects of inspiring students to go into engineering, astrophysics, etc? (With a side effect for educational institutions getting paid) What about the new private space exploration enterprises? Would they exist without NASA? (I don’t think so. And it goes back to my point of private enterprise… without the NASA jumpstart, we wouldn’t be seeing any of that.) Frankly, it’s sad to see something that costs a half of one percent of the budget being attacked.
Frankly, don’t you think that with this same type of reasoning back in the 1400’s, no one would have sailed from Europe to America? Why waste money with that, when Europe was the pinnacle of civilization?
Perhaps we could RENT IT TO THE CHINESE !!!
“Low Mileage Space Station, Hardly Used, Prime Location, Great Views!!!:
arpie==what more can I do than CAPITALIZE the emphasis: OCCUPATION of space. I suppose that is still ambiguous. In context, I thought it was clear enough it was occupation of space BY HUMANS: as in the Space Station. as in the Space Shuttle Program.
Gone are the days when we can afford to put a window in the space capsule so that John Glenn can declare we aren’t just monkeys in a can. When, of course, that is all he was.
I wonder how much more we could have accomplished without the hubris?
Do you ever wonder that arpie?
# 8 bobbo, are we Men of Science, or Devo?:
“… I wonder how much more we could have accomplished without the hubris? …”
Very little. A little hubris is necessary to progress. Those who don’t dare don’t accomplish anything.
#4, bobbo, said,
“We may have reached our Zenith in Space OCCUPATION. Too expensive. too little direct return.
Reality.”
Whether this is true or not, I don’t like the implication that we can no longer afford to reasonably dream about stepping beyond our current reach. I think our instinctive nature as an explorer species demands us to go one step beyond what we can achieve today.
> I wonder how much more we could have accomplished without the hubris?
I wonder what we’d have accomplished without hubris… How dare that ape walk upright? How dare someone think they could control fire?
How dare we think we can make a machine that will run faster and longer than a horse? How dare we think we can understand a lot more of this complex universe?
I say bring on the hubris.
Hey NASA, I got a keen idea. Let’s pull a Hewlett Packard on the International Space Station and save a pile of dough at the same time.
First we convert all our Shuttles into door stops, giving us enough cash to feed The Rich many times over, then we leave everything up to those oh, so completely moral Russians.
Whoops. Faw down, go boom!
Whoops. Now they saying, “You dant ride det ektually verks? Can give you dot. But chu gonna hafta pei true noze, comrad.”
vont, not dant
Ha, ha.
How do you know what you know and how do you change your mind?
We think with words and flower with ideas.
Yea, verily.
Hubris: arrogance, excessive self-pride and self-confidence.
Did any of you look the word up before you focused on disagreeing with its use?
Any of you?
Are you ALL for EXCESSIVE SELF PRIDE??????
My, my, my.
Scientific types I assume? Very bipolar/all or none/black or white NON-think going on here.
Either we spend money for a manned mission to Mars or we never would have come down from the trees?
Is that about it Bucky(s)?
What would our science be today if all the money spent on manned space program had been spent on robotics? If the question is even asked does it mean would never have climbed down from the trees?
Chimps.
Priorities. Balance. Reordering of priorities. Balance.
Rinse and Repeat.
Reality?????
Like the square of the distance, there is a diminishing return on money spent in space the farther you go out–especially using people.
which would provide more benefit to hoomans: one more manned mission to the moon, or satelites circling every planet in our solar system? Lets ASSUME we can only do one or the other??? Which would be better? Man or Robots. A redo or something new?
I suspect most people would vote for “manned” anything. I also suspect more knowledge/benefit would be gained from using robots/machines and not men in space.
But I’m not a scientist/tech guy. I just read the dictionary and know that hubris is not a good thing. Maybe in just very little small quantities when initially brain storming? I doubt hubris is involved in climbing down out of the trees either.
YMMV.
I’m an engineer/computer scientist, but don’t consider myself a “rocket scientist.”
For what it’s worth, I think a little hubris and some real engineering and science goes a long way. Get the James Webb Telescope working, then start working on other lunar landers designed to actually find out more about the Moon.
Are there lava tubes on the Moon that can be turned into shelters? Some Moon surface pictures (one looks like a terrestrial lava tube) suggest “yes.”
We know very little about the differences in collected samples on the Moon’s surface; only a few samples were collected, and some of them are simply trophies in cases today.
More ideas, please.
Too many eggs, just one basket….
#16–floyd==I agree completely as to the potential of the moon, and space generally. something to be evaluated/explored/developed.
But “a little hubris” is oxymoronic. Surely we could all find a better concept. A word/concept that doesn’t begin with an extreme/an error and modify it down?
Why not start with a good word/concept and amplify it?
How about curiosity? Thats a good word. Lets amplify that notion. How about self interested curiosity? How about Man’s Innate Curiosity given wings and rockets and sent to the Stars?
But Arrogance?
Ahhh. I play with the words. Each to look within themselves to find the meaning.
Yeah, I saw a few articles on lava tubes on the Moon. Again—the distance. Gravity. Fuel. The space elevator captures my imagination, my self interested curiosity, more==I don’t really know why.
Right now today: where could millions of dollars be best spent? bill Gates thinks its on eradicating tropical diseases. In my view, unstudied as it is, seems to me that could work for a generation, but 50 years from now, all those diseases will be back, perhaps even with a vengeance. Hubris???? No, I don’t think so. A try and a fail.
While some like to think its not a zero sum game: where to best spend a pile of dough?
Documenting the Human Genome seems like the kind of investigation that has set the stage for decades of human advancement. Will sending 8 people to live in a lava tube on the Moon do the same thing? Will it?……WILL IT???????????
What else? I think Watson shows more of the genome potential than does space.
What else? Green Energy I think. And that hooks into the Space Elevator. Would 6 people now (two died) in a lava tube on the Moon help with green energy?
Yes. Hubris vs Pragmatism. Dreams vs Results.
Ain’t reality a bitch?
#17–miguel==excellent summation. Subtle. Beautiful.
Kudos.
If space contained oil, we’d be attacking it with all our resources.
Thankfully, the aliens already sucked all the oil from outterspace, so there is no reason to go, unless you are an Othodox Raëlian.
About time. Now NASA can go back to its primary mission of outreach to Muslims.
Evacuate the station due to one failed booster in 30yrs? i doubt it..
I have far more faith in Russian space tech than NASA/USA space tech.
the “failure” was probably caused by some opposing asshat blackhat .mil space faction we civilians are not privy to.
all we need to do is kill off the Oil Boys, get both sides to stop using WWII rocket tech and and break out the BlackOp gravitics tech that has been around since the 40’s and we’re good to go..
we should have already been a space fairing race/planet many decades, if not centuries ago.
-s
OR…
..this will be used as cover story to clear the station for safety reasons because of the fact that we are (ie: the solar system) is passing through a very “dense” region of space, both celestially and energetically for which our current BS science denies the existence of for various reasons.
-and which the Russians have been privy to since at least the 80’s, that i’m aware of.
-s
#22 and 23 make alfie seem a serenely normal human being with a wonderful grasp of reality.
MikeN said “About time. Now NASA can go back to its primary mission of outreach to Muslims.”
You’re afraid of your own bloody shadow. Grow some Kahonies.
It’s just sad :{
It’s sad that NASA doesn’t get the credit it deserves, in terms of all the various engineering and some scientific advances it’s made that have contributed immeasurable to the American economy and GDP over the years.
All these private companies can only do what they are doing because of scientific and engineering advances already made at NASA.
Does the government waste money, unfortunately yes, and by the butt loads. For what ever reason, (politics) government doesn’t seem to know how to manage and reduce financial waste.
BUT, does U.S. industry always deliver better, safer goods, NO!! Just think of our current internet speed compared to the rest of the world, think of oil (energy, ENRON, BP) companies, just think how almost every food stuff has High Fructose Corn Syrup in it (MONSANTO), just think how privatizing the IRAQ WAR (Blackwater) has helped, think how Wall Street and Banks have lied to us, think how fast college prices are increasing, think how fast health care prices are increasing, just think!
The same powers that inform/cajole us to vote one way or the other also inform/cajole us to buy one product over the other. If American can’t be good citizens (hold politicians accountable and demand good government) how do you expect them to be shrewd consumers. Both processes, voting and consuming drink from the same well of knowledge, plus our schools don’t teach Americans how to rationally think with data!
nonage, imagine if NASA was funded like, say, Halliburton?
# 27 foobar said,
nonage, imagine if NASA was funded like, say, Halliburton?
Not sure I understand your point.
Mistyped noname. Sorry.
We seem so in love with space but the cost vs results seems unbalanced. I think we need to step back from space and start fixing things on Earth.
We are now becoming redundant with space projects which tells me we have reached our limits and need to stop for a while.