Is Human Spaceflight Running Out of Time?

Discovery News ^ | 02/01/10 | Ian O'Neill

[PIF]

“If you ask me NASA funding should be done only when we have a budget surplus.”

I’m not quite sure you understand how important our space program is to our national security. Obama does, which is why he is ending it.

As do the Russians, Chinese, Indians, Japanese, Europeans, Brits, Israelis, and Iraninas. “he who takes the high ground, commands the battle.” and “He who controls the high ground, wins the war.”

[PIF]

“Really you people who have problems with NASA are incredibly short sighted. Lets kill the only program that actually returns something to the American people.”

Meanwhile lets fund projects that just piss away money. Like stupid high speed trains. Why not just fix the damn roads? But NO, we have to be like the euroweenies.”

For one month I wish every object that benefited from NASA would cease to function. Then I would like to see what you whiners think deprived of technology that you take for granted.”

Pointless to talk to them. The all believe that manned space flight is either

1 un Constitutional;
2 un affordable;
3 will be done eventually.

I just hope the Chinese et al remain at least nominally friendly toward the US. Else we will be at their utter and complete mercy once they control the moon and mars.

[PIF]

“It was not until planes started flying folks to a destination that the aviation industry exploded!”

Agree with the rest - but it was really WW I and WW II that put the tech into commercial aviation. Which brings us back to the orginal premise - that only governments have the will and resources to take the risks and fund the tech.

Had the two wars never occurred, jet planes would be on the cover of Popular Science as the plane of the future. Necessity drives invention and adoption. Absent either, things move very slow in the tech world.

[La Lydia]

Yeah, thanks teachers’ unions.

[GraceG]

>> “It was not until planes started flying folks to a destination that the aviation industry exploded!”

Agree with the rest - but it was really WW I and WW II that put the tech into commercial aviation. Which brings us back to the orginal premise - that only governments have the will and resources to take the risks and fund the tech.

Had the two wars never occurred, jet planes would be on the cover of Popular Science as the plane of the future. Necessity drives invention and adoption. Absent either, things move very slow in the tech world. <<

So they only way we could ever hope to achieve space dominance is if China decides to start WW-III and uses Space as a High Frontier and we have to play catchup. Too bad our manufacturing sector is in the crapper. Time to learn Mandarin, sadly...

[PIF]

Sadly that may be the case - certainly the US abandoning manned space travel above LEO will leave the field clear for any other nation to claim whatever body they deem worthwhile for whatever reason.

Whatever tech that is developed will be the property of those nations, we, on the other hand, can ask (beg) for licences they own. Worse, any US kids that have ambitions in those directions will emigrate to those countries where the opportunities exist. This is the beginning of a great side down - Hussein is just greasing the skids - dumb voters are more important to the Dems than national supremacy or pride.

[Impy]

I hope not

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700006185/Rent-a-spacecraft-in-NASAs-future.html

Check that out. NASA is perhaps looking to the private sector to build and operate spacecraft for them.