Space Exploration Moon and Beyond

[Corley5]

This is way off topic but hey maybe someday we'll be growing trees on Mars ;D  I listened to the Presidents speech today and think it's a very progressive plan although I wonder where the money's going to come from.  My big beef about the whole thing is the, in my opinion, worthless space station that we've sunk between 30 or 40 billion into .  I've always said from the start of the ISS that instead of sending a bunch of new junk into orbit we should take advantage of the station that's already orbitting up there and has been since long before humans ever came on the scene.  It always made more sense to me that the moon should have been where the space station was built.  There's solid ground to build on, some gravity, and eventually the moon could provide materials to expand the base instead of hauling them up from earth and the Moon would be a much more substantial and safer launching pad for manned flights to elsewhere in the solar system (Mars).  Landing strips and launch pads for the shuttles or their replacements could be constructed right there rather docking up to an orbitting tin can.  Fox interviewed John Glen about the Pres. new plan and he was supportive but thinks that the ISS is wonderful and of more use than a Lunar base ??? because of the experiments than can take place there that wiil benefit us down here.  I don't see his point when it could all be done in a base on the Moon.  
What about those pics of Mars?  Pretty 8) pics of red rocks and sand  ;D  I'm looking forward to the results of the tests that the rover will conduct once it gets moving.  Hopefully the one that's scheduled to land in a couple weeks does so without any problems.  

[Jeff]

Some people will always say we are wasting money and wasting time. I say, GO FOR IT!! Its better entertainment then any movie and one of the things I dont mind my tax dollars going for. I guess you can tell I was a kid in the late 60's.

[Stan]

Da moon makes a bigger target for them space rocks.  :-/

[CHARLIE]

People might complain about space exploration, but look at all the by products we have today from it. Better adhesives, better caulk, better lubricants, etc, etc..........  Not to mention all the jobs it will create.

[Percy]

I could talk/listen/speculate/dream about space for longer than whats considered polite.  :D :D  The arguments about spending the money on the less fortunate are valid but I think us, as humans , need to explore, learn about where we come from, where were going, and the lucky ones get to ride around in  the fastest, noisiest, most fuel gobbling, thrill ride ever created by humankind. The International Space Station is a symbol of  how far we  have come from the days of the cold war when just about everything was a secret between the Super Powers. It aint perfect yet(the world) by a longshot, considering recent events but in my opinion, its getting much better. Ill bet if we were threatened by some unearthly race, the planet would quit bickering amongst themselves and get together and kik some alien butt. ;D ;D

[EZ]

I always wonder what they are really looking for, and if they do find it or them. If they find it, they probably will screw it up, if they find them, they probably will tax them.
EZ

[Ron Wenrich]

If I recall, the space station was also to be used for manufacturing.  There are certain products that are better produced in weightlessness.  

I know it sounds good, but the money spent is definetely an underestimate.   Still, I can think of worse things that we have invested in as a nation or a culture.  Knowledge is something no one can take away from you.

[Haytrader]

Food for thought.
Wouldn't the same rocket scientists given the same time and resources have discovered or invented a significant amount on the ground, without lose of life?

[Ron Wenrich]

No.  Unfortunately, a lot of our advances have been due to war or competition.  Left to our own designs, we are a lazy lot that are content with the status quo.

The airplane was not a paying deal.  They lost lots of pilots, with little finacial gain.  Then came WWI and they found out that airplanes could be used for surveillance and dropping handheld bombs.  Then came the need for bigger and better.

Computers were developed due to the space race.  The space race was on during the Cold War so we could spy on each other.  

Rockets have no real use in a normal world.  They were developed by the Germans during WWII as an offensive weapon.  

How long would it have taken to develop teflon?  There just wasn't that kind of market demand.  The space program gave the market for the development.  Science and invention are market driven.  How else are you going to pay for the investment?

[Norm]

I too never thought much of the space station except for a means to get a base on the moon and then use it for further exploring. It seems to be our destiny to do so.

I'm not a big fan of NASA and feel giving them another billion a year is wasted money. There are a lot of small firms and individuals that would do a better job. NASA has never had an incentive to do it better cheaper. Cut a billion from their budget and give it as grants to others and maybe they will. I made a comment about a mill built by rbarshaw that showed good old yankee ingenuity. I was serious when I said if we gave folks like him the task we'd be watching him on Mars not some piece of junk that cost a few billion.

[OneWithWood]

I don't buy into the manned missions beyond the moon at this juncture.  I feel we get more bang for the buck with robots and it is much safer.
I would rather spend my tax dollars on voyages in space than spending 100s of billions reigning down bombs on mankind.
Anyway the president's speech was more smoke and mirrors designed to deflect attention away from some other problems that have surfaced of late.  His father made the same speech when he was president and then proceeded to not fund the initiative.  Given our current budgetary problems and the time frame of this initiative I would not hold your breath for any significant changes anytime soon.
Sure hope I am wrong but I don't think I am. ???

[sawyerkirk]

I just had a visiion of all the survey lattes they'll need when we start staking off house lots on the moon!! I'm sure they will need to be good hardwood. What would happen to a piece of green lumber on the moon? One huge vacuum kiln?Not sure how you'd keep the boards flat.I'd still rather see them find the bottem of the sea anyway.God only knows what is down there!

[Furby]

Well I gave NASA a call a while back and did the american thing and offered myself up to be the first living being to take the risk and to go to mars.
They told me that they couldn't use animals anymore, something about activists' or something. I plead my case saying that I was "willing" to go, but nope can't do it. But I know all about space, I pleaded, I have tons of it, between my ears.  Oh well, guess it'll be just another hunk of metal going up there until humans gets to go.  ;D



I think Jeff is right, "Just do it"!!!!!!!

Hey sawyerkirk, don't you mean "God and Deadheader"?  ;D

[L. Wakefield]

   One wonders about the motivation here. I think it's trying to draw on the natural curiosity and longing we do have to expand the frontiers, explore, see what's out there- in order to win the election. It was a winner for JFK- why not for Dubya? lw

[Tom]

Space is a great place to put our money.  I don't worry about how to pay for it since the decisions are made on a higher level. If those fellows say we can pay for it, then we oughta do it, by golly. ;D

We've been throwing money at indigents and "the needy" since the middle of the last century and all we did was create more indigents.  There is an entire society out there that knows how to get tax dollars to supplement or replace work income.  At least dollars spent in space will benefit us all in the long run.  Smoke and mirrors?  I don't think so. I like our president.

[beenthere]

Count me standin strong (again) in Tom's corner, as that NASA money will be spent, and it will go to companies with NASA contracts, who will hire real people to work to make things. Many spin-offs resulting in our favor over the space age years (and the Iraq conflict is proof of a lot of that technology, IMO).  Much better use of tax dollars than hand outs, and the ol' trick of lowering unemployment by just hiring more gov't workers.

[Neil_B]

I am a firm believer of exploring space and what's out there. After all, in 10 years, where are we going to put our garbage here on Earth.  :-/
Space explorers have already started to fill up the great void with scrap and garbage so seems a likely spot.  >:(  :

[woodmills1]

teflon h*$$ what about velcro now there is one that is a great invention.  I just don't think that the moon is gonna do for dub what it did for kennedy.  It isn't 1960 we do have hand held computors or even calculators that have more power than the stuff the first moon shots gave us.  What I like is nano technology .001" motors cool.  But youall are right we don't create large without some challenge.  Now if those inhabitants of other planents would just make themselfs known that wood get usa goin. :D :D

[etat]

For a decade, Columbus approached the Portuguese king and the Spanish monarchs to obtain a grant to explore possible trade routes to the west.

King Charles approved Magellan's plan and granted him generous funds on March 22, 1518. With money from the king, the explorer was able to obtain five ships (possibly naos) called the Trinidad, the San Antonio, the Concepcion, the Victoria, and the Santiago. In September [1519], he set sail with 270 men

When Thomas Jefferson dispatched Lewis and Clark to find a water route across North America and explore the uncharted West, he expected they'd encounter woolly mammoths, erupting volcanoes, and a mountain of pure salt. What they found was no less surprising.


Gotta go see what's over the hill.  

[DanG]

Well, I don't know what good will, or will not, come from seeing what's over that hill. But I do know that the money is not being 'spent', but is merely being used. We have benefited immeasurably from the developments of the space program, though we haven't actually gained very much from it's accomplishments.  We do have GPS, and other forms of sattelite communications, but these things pale before all the gadgets we use every day that owe their existance to the space program.
When you really think about it, it won't cost very much, anyway. The program will create tens of thousands of MIDDLE CLASS, very taxable jobs. These jobs will be filled by the people who were laid off in the "tech recession" we just had, and will free up the lower wage jobs these folks have been holding to employ the currently unemployed. There will be housing booms in the areas of the contract holders, so the construction trades will benefit. All of those carpenters gotta have something to work with, so we get to do our bit, and saw up a few sticks for them. We gotta get the sticks from somewhere, so timber prices should recover some.......etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, and so forth.............................................

[OneWithWood]

Sorry to come back to this a few days late.  I had some eye surgery last Friday and I am just now beginning to see well enough to read...

A host of new jobs and products similar to what happened with the man on the moon quest is not likely to come from the president's Mars inititative   The reason for this is that NASA is a fully entrenched entity that did not exist in the 60s.  As such it employs many people, just ask the Weekend Sawyer.  Most of the products that would be needed for a manned mission have been developed for the current programs.  The big missing piece is how to ensure the survivability of humans for such a long space flight.  Assurededly some new products would come from solving that problem, but not on the same scale we saw in the 60s and 70s.  The space program and NASA will continue regardless of whether or not we risk humans on a manned mission.  We are on Mars right now carrying our scientific studies.  If we find water and other opportunities to sustain life then a manned mission becomes much more realistic and feasible.  I think the nations of the earth will always explore the surroundings, both on this planet and others.  The benefits of that exploration will benefit mankind.
I would hope NASA's funding is never decreased and that any new money that would be earmarked for a manned mission to Mars be utilized to help solve some of the vexing environmental problems we humans have caused on this planet.

I know, I know, Tom.  I had eye surgery but I still can't see straight when it comes to politics!  :D

[Tom]

I don't think  politics lines up straight enough to be able to see much of it. :D

We are all voyeurs in a sense.  Even though we can do a job with robots, whether it be sawing a log or going to Mars, there is always a line of people that want to do it first-hand.  There is always justification for a human too, somehow.  A race car could probably be programmed to drive a race and not get into an accident but racing would lose some of its adventure without a driver.  I think some of that Carry's over to space exploration too.  A human is a ready made computer when technology hasn't developed a computer that will do the job yet.

Somebody tell me the story again about when the patent office said "everything has now been invented".   :D :D

What's your eye surgery?   I hope it was to clear vision and not an ailment.  Take care of yourself.  You only get two of them.  My son lost one as a small child and I've been afraid all his life that he might damage the other.  He still climbs on motorcycles and races through the woods. I guess he's aware, I hope.

I've worn glasses since I was 5.  I've become so used to having something in front of my eyes that my little stint with contacts scared me to death.

[dail_h]

   I'd like to take this opportunity to officaly anounce my canidacy for the first govenor of the great state of the Moon 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) WhoooooooooHooooooo let's go

[Texas Ranger]

Folks in Houston are having mixed feelings about the Pres's speech, they think it will cost some jobs, and create many others.  But their's is a community where seeing an astronaut at lunch is no big thing.

There was a dedication of a Presbyterian Church Sanctuary yesterday in a town next to the Space Center, a church where many of the astronauts worship.  Displayed their new stained glass windows.  Six were of scenes shot from the Hubble Telescope, showing the firmament, and one window had a slice of meteor incorporated into the design, a slice that had diamond dust in it from times beginning, billions of years ago.

The culture of space is common around the space centers of or nation, and the spin off results are common through out the nation.  

Let's go, light that candle, I would like to tell my grand kids how we felt when man first landed on the moon, and how we had the nerve and ability to go back to stay.

[Norwiscutter]

As for whether or not its a good idea I think that if i was able to deceide where my tax dollars were going, the space program would be a really good spot to put it. Maybe if I paid enough, they would put my name on the side of the shuttle...kinda like nascar.  Just think if they did that with the military...a guy could get his name on the side of a bomb...people would be paying more taxes then they had to.  However, I think that befor they go trying to send people to Mars and the moon and such...NASA needs to figure out ARKANSAWYER's sun orbiting the earth theory... I still havn't been able to figure that one out. :P :P Mentioned it to a friend of mine in one of those secret army units and he hung up the phone, called me back the next day and said never to mention it again.  I think maybe he was kidding???