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, ...
Get rid of NASA and award prizes to private companies for 1/10th the cost.
“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.
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
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.