Posted on 02/05/2010 2:11:36 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The eleven scientists, engineers, and physicians chosen in 1967 as NASA’s newest astronauts had just arrived in Houston when Deke Slayton, Director of Flight Crew Operations, called them into a meeting and told them the bad news. The program NASA had envisioned, the program that would have had people living in space stations and studying lunar soil in the 1970s, was over. Project Apollo’s budget was declining, and while American astronauts were still two years away from walking on the moon, the men who would fly Apollo missions had already been selected weeks earlier. The choice Slayton offered the new recruits, astronaut Joe Allen later recounted, was stark: They could hang around NASA if they wished, but they would never be “space flyers.” The first chapter of human spaceflight history was ending, and these new astronaut-candidates had arrived too late.
This week America’s latest plans to return astronauts to the moon were similarly consigned to the recycle bin, and NASA’s astronauts are no doubt wondering the same thing their colleagues did 40 years ago: “What about us?”
(Excerpt) Read more at airspacemag.com ...
UM.... THIS IS A STUPID (RETARDED?) TAKE ON THIS STORY
IT WAS/IS NEVER ABOUT THE PERSONAL AMBITIONS OF EACH ASTRONAUT
Yes. This angle is idiotic.
I would much rather they attacked it from the point of view of each astronaut and how they decided to deal with the personal bad news.
I would also have rather decided to see it from the angle of how NASA instead shifted gears into getting astronauts and the shuttle program going instead.
THOSE GREEDY ASTRONAUTS!!!!
When you think about it, what technology do we have from being in space?
Granted, a lot of the technology we use every day comes from going into space, digital computers, etc.
But what technology was actually developed in space that couldn't be developed faster and cheaper right here on Earth?
My mother works in the crew office at JSC...The astronaut corp is thinning out on a weekly basis...
There will be a few holdouts...What’s funny is John Young still sits in on some meetings around there, and that is a guy you do not want to pizz off...hehehe
Unbelievable the amount of money NASA had to spend for a few seats over the next few years on the Soyuz TM’s going up to the station...
That actually might be worth it, if we still had plans to produce the Ares to take over after those seats fly...The Russians actually wanted us to keep that project going so they could have options...
Who knows...In another 10-15 years, somebody will say...Why did we let the ISS program deorbit, when we could have been developing Moon and Mars missions, and all the jobs and other spin offs to keep our edge on technologies and advancements in science and exploration...blah blah blah...
How exciting is it going to be to have robots do continued surveying and study, if we are not going to actually go there...
Thanks Obama...You really give the yutes of America something to aspire to now...
So when the sun burns out, humanity goes with it?
In cyberspace, no one can see you roll your eyes. Or, are you saying that NASA's got a plan for a giant space-ark to save all of humanity for when the sun burns out in 3 billion+ years?
I was merely pointing out that none of the modern technology we enjoy was developed in space. It was developed to get us into space.
Can you point out anything that can be done faster and cheaper in space than here on Earth?
Or, perhaps you can point out what we have accomplished by being in space. I'm not talking about site-seeing excursions, either. What has being in space done for mankind here on Earth?
To what end? What's the purpose in going to the Moon or Mars?
It’s like Mt. Everest...
Because it’s there...
The neatest thing I have seen over the years is the materials processing experiments conducted on the shuttle and the space station...To do that, and do it well, you’ll need bodies up there to actually do the experiments called for...Sure there is some automation to that actual process, but having someone there to observe and be prepared for contingencies is pretty important...
And the time spent up there conducting experiments, science and other support operations and maintenance helps us understand what to expect on long duration spaceflights...
There are a lot of things that work hand in hand in spaceflight, and there is only so much that can be accomplished by robotic and other automated systems...
There is not a single case in human history of a successful, thriving culture/nation that was not expansionary. Territorial stasis or decline is the first sign of cultural and civilizational doom. We, as a moral nation, have no desire to conquer the territory of other nations (otherwise Kuwait and Iraq would be the 51st & 52nd states), so our only other options are the depths of the oceans... and out there. All of the other arguments are irrelevant. Either we are looking up, or we are wasting away.
Those who say otherwise are ignorant of both history and human nature...
That's fine. If you want to conquer something, then do it on your own nickel, not mine.
I have yet to see any good come from actually being in space and other than conducting a site-seeing expedition, you haven't named anything, either. Climbing a mountain accomplishes nothing for anyone except the climber.
Sure, astronauts get to enjoy the view while they're there, but like the climber who makes it to the peak of the mountain, they too, come down empty-handed.
The reason why there have been no real interest by private industry to go into space is because there's nothing that can be done in space that can't be done faster and cheaper right here on Earth.
Instead, folks like Von Braun have turned to the government to finance their fanciful trips to the Mt. Everest of the skies.
Our country's history has been nothing but conquering the territory of other nations. Those who say otherwise are ignorant of both our history and our human nature...
Not anymore... which is why space is so important.
We attacked Iraq for no real reason, deposed the leader and installed our own puppet government. How is that not conquering another nation's territory?
LOL!!! Did you forget you are on Free Republic and not DU? Got any other good ones? Did the Joooooos! plot with the military/industrial complex fly planes into the twin towers in order to trick Bush into attacking Iraq ("No blood for oil!")?
Sorry, I thought you were a serious poster, not some cartoon character. ROFLMAO!
No, I didn't forget where I was. I also don't drink Bush's spittle for breakfast. Why did we invade Iraq?
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