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The end of the US space program!?

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ShawnLG

Fri Jul 08 2011, 07:27PM

Registered Member #286 Joined: Mon Mar 06 2006, 04:52AM
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Posts: 399

NASA are retireing their reusable shuttle fleet and they have no plans on replacing them. This is not good for the US.

Daedronus

Fri Jul 08 2011, 08:48PM

Registered Member #2329 Joined: Tue Sept 01 2009, 08:25AM
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Any space program that is not going to get us to the stars has little point
And chemical rockets are definitely not going to get us to the starts

I think things like the LHC contribute far greatly to the space program then the NASA

Ultimately we need FTL flight or the humans will die out on this dust blob we call Earth.

Chip Fixes

Fri Jul 08 2011, 09:24PM

Registered Member #3781 Joined: Sat Mar 26 2011, 02:25AM
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I agree, we have enough problems on earth to deal with, if they used funds from the space program for something like solving the energy crisis, etc. then maybe we could start solving problems

Fraggle

Fri Jul 08 2011, 09:41PM

Registered Member #1526 Joined: Mon Jun 09 2008, 12:56AM
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There`s loads of mileage in colonising our solar system. Anywhere with a source of energy is a candidate given the technology. It will happen but the future lies where the money is - commercial spaceflight

Proud Mary

Fri Jul 08 2011, 09:54PM

Registered Member #543 Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992

I read that the USA will now pay Russia $50 million per astronaut per launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan .

There are at present four Russian spacecraft docked at the International Space Station.

Three dockings by Dragon and Cygnus unmanned cargo transporters owned by Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, CA, USA, are scheduled for later this year.

Adam Munich

Fri Jul 08 2011, 11:51PM

Registered Member #2893 Joined: Tue Jun 01 2010, 09:25PM
Location: Cali-forn. i. a.
Posts: 2242

^^She speeks the truth.

Here's what is/was happening. NASA was planning on having a rocket ready by now (the capsule stuff from the 60s) but obama cut a lot of nasa's funding and gave the money away in the trillion dollar "bailout". So now they are expecting it to be finished in four years provided we get a space-friendly president.

Obama also cut all funding for the telescope that was to replace the hubble...

Mattski

Sat Jul 09 2011, 06:29AM

Registered Member #1792 Joined: Fri Oct 31 2008, 08:12PM
Location: University of California
Posts: 527

I am actually in favor of giving NASA a break from running a manned space launch program. It has been done successfully by the government over the course of over 40 years now. There is still more to be learned, but I think that it is worth giving commercial industry a shot at it. I would personally would prefer NASA to focus a little more on basic research, probes and satellites for study of the solar system, and maybe more work on game changing ideas that might lower the cost of getting to space. As it is the chemical rocket paradigm isn't going to get cheap even if it switches from government to commercial, though that will help.

Grenadier I sense you're not a fan of Obama here... JWST funding isn't even definitively cut yet, and the proposed cancellation of the program originated from Congress as far as I can tell. Also there were good reasons to cancel Constellation, and the budget for NASA has so far risen consistently during Obama's presidency, it was not given away in bailout funds.

Adam Munich

Sat Jul 09 2011, 11:45AM

Registered Member #2893 Joined: Tue Jun 01 2010, 09:25PM
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Nope, JW telecope is likely done for. But still, if nasa was smart they'd focus on a space elevator or launch loop, because rockets... well they suck.

Mattski

Sat Jul 09 2011, 05:49PM

Registered Member #1792 Joined: Fri Oct 31 2008, 08:12PM
Location: University of California
Posts: 527

That's the appropriations committee, they assemble the appropriations bill, vote on it, then present it to the House of Representatives. The House still needs to vote on it and the Senate needs to agree on that point as well. That said the appropriations committee is powerful, and this doesn't exactly bode well for the telescope.

Dr. ISOTOP

Sat Jul 09 2011, 09:49PM

Registered Member #2919 Joined: Fri Jun 11 2010, 06:30PM
Location: Cambridge, MA
Posts: 652

Grenadier wrote ...

Nope, JW telecope is likely done for. But still, if nasa was smart they'd focus on a space elevator or launch loop, because rockets... well they suck.

Uhhh Space Elevator is not going to happen for a while.
Hopefully those scramjet/rocket hybrid vehicles get finished soon.

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