[chessplayer]

I'm still letting this soak in. Absolutely incredible. I think this is actually even more momentous than the Apollo moon landings. And this would never have been possible if the space program was not govt funded. Why? Because this mission was about pure knowledge. No profit motive. Nobody made money (beyond their base salaries) off this mission. It was done for knowledge's sake and nothing else.

[SHOOT THE MOON bat]

It will be back to make a terrible movie.

[Hulka]

Contractors.corporations built for profit the hardware and facilities.

And this was done before PC and “muslime outreach.”

[James C. Bennett]

From back when NASA was run by the Germans...

:^)

[Marine_Uncle]

Veger will come back in a few hundred years and threaten the earth. :)

[mdittmar]

V’ger;)

[cripplecreek]

To be that far out is an acomplishment to be sure but its got a very long way to go before it actually leaves the solar system.

To technically leave the solar system it will need to be outside the sun's influence beyond the most distance orbiting objects. It shouldn't take but another 26,000 years or so. Its still inside the closest orbit of Sedna.

[dragnet2]

The future belongs to unmanned spacecraft.

They have gone and will go where no man can. In fact man may never be able to match these accomplishments...It would take man probably thousands of years, or possibly never just to match the data these unmanned spacecraft have already achieved.

Unmanned spacecraft have obtained so much data in the past 30 plus years, we’ll be studying that data for another several decades. It will be the unmanned spacecraft which will pave the way for the few doable manned missions. In fact unmanned spacecraft/rovers are doing that right now in regards to Mars.

It’s why the Shuttle program was trashed.

I believe the shuttle program competed about 30,000++ earth orbits...It basically was reduced to supplying the ISS. It was time to move on.

[Nowhere Man]

I'm still letting this soak in. Absolutely incredible. I think this is actually even more momentous than the Apollo moon landings. And this would never have been possible if the space program was not govt funded. Why? Because this mission was about pure knowledge. No profit motive. Nobody made money (beyond their base salaries) off this mission. It was done for knowledge's sake and nothing else.

As much as it goes against most libertarian thought, I do see a need and understand there are times government needs to fund various things to advance medicine and science. I'm not for funding things that are considered BS but are for things that do return a genuine benefit. I'm also for private funding as well if they wish to do so.

[InABunkerUnderSF]

Actually there was a great deal of for private sector involvement. Honeywell in MA provided the star trackers. GE in NY provided Computer Command Subsystems and Flight Control Processors - Ted Kennedy along with Jacob Javits of NY, Birch Bayh of IN and William Proxmire of WI were the program's harshest critics. They had to be paid off somehow. There were aerospace contractors all over the country providing components - and politicians in their states and districts contributing their votes.

When the government is involved there ain't no such thing as "pure knowledge".

[ontap]

Voyager was launch when NASA was an elite organization run by first class scientists....not the global warming moron of present!!!

[Lancey Howard]

And this would never have been possible if the space program was not govt funded. Why? Because this mission was about pure knowledge. No profit motive.

Yep. Those were different times. I was there. Nowadays, NASA is nothing more than a propaganda arm of the "global warming" scam to steal untold trillions of dollars, without end, from taxpaying, traditional American families. It's time for private business to step up and take the next steps. Get the stinking government out of the space business, except for military programs, and let visionary billionaires take over the exploration of space. Government turns whatever it touches to turd.