Posted on 07/14/2009 7:27:22 PM PDT by edge10
A number of times in recent weeks a bright, unblinking light has appeared in the night sky of the nation's capital: a spaceship. Longer than a football field, weighing 654,000 pounds, the spaceship moved swiftly across the heavens and vanished.
Fortunately, it was one of ours.
The international space station is by far the largest spacecraft ever built by earthlings. Circling the Earth every 90 minutes, it often passes over North America and is visible from the ground when night has fallen but the station, up high, is still bathed in sunlight.
After more than a decade of construction, it is nearing completion and finally has a full crew of six astronauts. The last components should be installed by the end of next year.
And then?
"In the first quarter of 2016, we'll prep and de-orbit the spacecraft," says NASA's space station program manager, Michael T. Suffredini.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
de-orbit, cool word. Kinda like other areas, as we de-orbit the auto industry, de-orbit the oil industry, de-orbit the coal industry, ...
I wish Obama would de-orbit my butt.
It will probably stay up years longer,
once THEY arrive...
So sad to see NASA and space exploration become another pig at the trough. The shuttle program has lingered 20 years too long now we have this white elephant hanging over our heads.
Get rid of NASA and award prizes to private companies for 1/10th the cost.
“What an expensive exercise in absolute futility.”
Agree. Let’s see, at, say $3B per year to keep up there - if we de-orbited it tomorrow, that would free up $30B or so over the next 10 years for much more important stuff...like helping Obama fund his health care take over.
(do you seriously think that NASA will ever see a penny out of this program if it is canceled...there are MUCH higher priorities in this administration)
“The rap on the space station has always been that it was built primarily to give the space shuttle somewhere to go. Now, with the shuttle being retired at the end of 2010, the station is on the spot. U.S. astronauts will be able to reach the station only by getting rides on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft.”
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That’s the straight-up truth. The ISS never had a real, purpose beyond that. It’s been a matter of dreaming up various odds and ends and errands for it.
This is like the set-up for a SciFi short story, where the troubled, obsolete, and soon to be de-orbited ISS is suddenly thrust into a cosmically pivotal role by dint of circumstance ... but what would it be ?
Wait...
We spent all this money, and time building this thing, and it’s not staying up there?
Do I have this right?
Good grief.
I need M&M’s.
Maybe the Chinese will buy it?
How cool... $100 billion for naught. We don’t have a plan for it? Ah what a waste of money, it would have paid for a Mars mission
The Chinese might give us a nickel on the dollar for it.... uh oh... the Russians want to keep their portion intact for their next station
We don't have that capability, it would probably be too fragile to move even if we did, and it is designed for LEO (for example, it would have inadequate shielding for operation anywhere else so people couldn't live there).
Hopefully the Indians or the Chinese will have the capability to operate it and be willing to do so. It would be useful for the Chinese as a stepping stone to their moon base.
We've got more important things to spend money on, like health care, arts funding, and government web sites.
Is it big enough to fit all of Congress in it?
Why do people who want the U.S. to de-industrialize because they can’t bear the risk of greenhouse gases melting glaciers so anxious to de-orbit our huge spaceship?
I’m old enough to remember when the idea of space travel raised goose pimples on any kid who just discovered that he liked girls. Our political elite, on the other hand, are the kind of people who like to think that the lunar landings in the late 60’s and early 70’s are a hoax.
If our country ever manages to grow a generation that finds the idea of going to the moon more exciting than green cars, sushi, and gay marriage, they might have an irresistible curiosity about how that wandering bright light got up there. An unbearable prospect to the Nancy Pelosis and Henry Waxmans of the world.
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