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Fishburne · Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2003 3:25 pm Post subject:

Bravisimo!

Maxx, well put.

We as a people tend to think that once something works right for a while, that nothing will happen. Its not that we don't see the problems, we just turn our eyes away from them. Yes, we do have high standards. BUT, the bureaucratic nonsense that goes on with the large government bodies is ridiculous. Yes, we have an excellent safety record, but that doesn't mean that we need to lose sight of the dangers inherrent with Space travel.

As a people we have lost sight of what it means to have a common goal. Like the Moon.
The space race was one of the most advancing factors in scientific knowledge in the last 300 years: Like the Montgolfier Brothers, we dared to lift our eyes from this little dust ball and wonder what it would be like to float, if for a little while, as a cloud. Like the Wright Brothers in their drive to be able to fly under our own power, not relying on nature to provide direction, but to control our own; Like the smartest minds of the last century, providing us with the vehicle to take our dreams to the farthest reaches of our own planet, and eventually, beyond!

Yes, Maxx, I agree. Even knowing that it would be a one way ticket, I would go in a heartbeat. There are those that say we need to spend additional funding to research diseases, there are those that say we need to spend that money on feeding the homeless. I say to them, this is the direction of the future! Each experiment done in the ISS and on the Shuttle expands our knowledge just a little further. Who knows what may come around the next bend. The chemical interaction experiments done there may discover the definitive cure for cancer or even AIDS. The food experiments may help develop a new strain of food that can be used to feed the homeless.

As a nation we need to have a common goal again. One that will stimulate the mindset of the nation, to provide for additional funding and the best and the brightest to once again strive for the impossible.

Elfen_Furry · Moderator Joined: 18 Jun 2002 Posts: 2601 Location: NYC NY

Well put Maxx and Fishburne.

As strange as my life turned ehre and there, I've always pointed myself towards that direction. Its funny, if everyting turned out to be as it was dreamed in the 70's, I would be up there by now. I mean, as shuttle design and flight frequency and my carreer/life choices, if they all lined up...

As number 2,173 in the "Teacher's in Space" program, I want to go, and maybe will. True, my chance may never come, but its better than a snow-balls' chance in hell. By the time my number will come up, I'll be over 167 years old, but with advancements in the health industry, I just might make it.

If its a one way trip, so be it. Life's a one way trip anyway, one I intend to get a refund on. But to go to where very few have gone before, that would make the trip here well worth it. The problem is too many people think that things are easy once you get there. That is so wrong...

The mindset of today's (American, espcially Urban Culture Youth) generation is so... I can not describe it without being in danger of being put through a class action by them. But I'll say this:

Once a mountain climber climb a mountain, does he goes down the easy side?
Does a Race Car Driver end his carreer after winning one race?
Does reaching the pinicale of life means that it ends there?

The answer to the above is no.

So why is it that so many try to achieve 1 thing in life?

In this mindset, if it were so for me, I would be dead at 13; the Olympic Gymist Hopeful that shattered his lower spine in an accident during pratice... and despite the risks, once I was on my feet again, I tried it again. Despite it all, off all the things I wanted to be since the age of 6, I was- except for two: Astronaut and Medical Doctor. But I did everything else, and hell, I had fun along the way!

My life is yet not over- though time maybe short, but I still have 2 goals to achieve, and I'll be damned if I dont try an attempt at both of them.

The Space Program, is not without its dangers, as Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia proved it us wrong. There's a saying in NYC (and variations of it all over): You can cross a street a hundred times, but its that 101th time that you'll get hit if you dont pay attention to where you're crossing.

So onward and forward. I'd rather be damned for doing something than damned for not doing- SO LETS DO IT!

(Sorry for the rant)

Fishburne · Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2003 6:57 pm Post subject:

Rant on!

Ya know, we ought to write for Bush....ITs better than half his speeches!!!!

Cateagle · Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2003 6:58 pm Post subject:

Some of you may know "Levelhead" from other forums. He's been good neough to distribute the following URL for straight answers regarding Columbia :

http://www.io.com/~o_m/columbia_loss_faq.html

Thoughtfully,
Cateagle

Who was raised on sf and woudl dearly love to make it into space, while being well aware of the dangers there (cf. "The Cold Equations" by Tom Godwin <plug> soon to be reprinted in a collection of his best by Baen Books </plug>). If I can't make it directly, I do have the satisfaction of knowing that hardware that's entirely of my design is up on the ISS and working as it should.

Galadrion · Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2003 10:08 pm Post subject:

Fishburne · Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2003 11:58 pm Post subject:

Cateagle · Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2003 10:40 am Post subject: Food For Thought

Posted without further comment:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30825

Cateagle

Tygon · Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2003 11:15 am Post subject: Re: Food For Thought

Fishburne · Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2003 11:56 am Post subject:

I whole heartedly DISAGREE with that article.

The only reason we are having some of the problems is due to a reduced budget, and the lack of a clear mission!

GAAAH!

Short sighted "visionary" crap like that is what gets many companies in trouble. as far as the 8 billion dollar ISS growing to 100 Billion plus, yes. It has. But lets look at when that original budget was proposed...in the late 60's. Yep, the ISS idea came to be in the late 60's. Couldn't be done of course, but it was still proposed in the sixties. And virtually unchanged until the budget was passed in the mid eighties.

So, lets look at what you could buy in that time (late 60's) - Corvette - 4,000. Camaro - 2,700. HOUSE - 12,500 - 25,00.

Now lets look at what the same items cost now. Corvette (base model) 43,895. Camaro - 19,500. House - 100,000 PLUS.

So, numbers games need some historical perspective...

Sheesh

If NASA was privatized, yes we'd have some influx of capital. But with that influx of capital comes another thing. Investor committees.

Yeah, we have issues. Yeah, it was a disaster.

Lets not make it worse by selling off a piece of American history and know how. Lets identify and fix the problems, and get back to the business of making dreams happen.

elMaxx · Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2003 12:03 pm Post subject: Re: Food For Thought

Tygon · Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2003 12:06 pm Post subject:

Sorry but I still agree with the article. To make some advances in space travel there are technological progress and improvements needed and governments don't do that. They never did and I doubt they ever will.

Plus, that governments can't handle money is a proven fact. A corporation could handle the NASA much better than any government on the planet could.

Tygon · Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2003 12:13 pm Post subject: Re: Food For Thought

elMaxx · Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2003 12:51 pm Post subject:

There is no law that says you can't start your own Tygon Space Yards dude... but if i had the brains and the talent, i'd shoot for NASA, no doubt about it , even if i got paid more by the private sector...

Tygon · Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2003 1:00 pm Post subject:

I'm sorry but I see no shame in thinking that the US government as well as any other government on the planet is to incompetent to handle space research.

But, as you put it yourself, everybody is entitled to his own opinion.

elMaxx · Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2003 1:08 pm Post subject:

Hey it's cool that you finally think that way, and mind you, that's a discussion forum about, exposing your points of view, now if you don't like furs discussing about your ideas, my friend, keep them to yourself.

And just for the record, i still haven't seen a german private agency, putting a man on the moon... or a Guatemalan for the matter... why? well, it's no good for business. Only a government like the US can afford to pay such numbers for research.

It's much easier to go to Nasa and tell them that you have a dream and you'd love to work for them, than going to a bank, tell them you have a vision, sending everyone that can afford it to space and it will only cost them what... 20-40 billion? they'll send you out, laugh and point at you and destroy your credit.

I think that in the end any studies of future technollogies need all the push they need, the guys that died on Columbia knew the risks, and still took them, does Nasa have budget problems, hell yeah, can a private company afford loosing lives under contracts and go to bankrupcy after a disaster, not likely, will Nasa's finantial horizon brighten soon, i dont' think so... but still there are a lot of people willing to help. that's an opportunity hardly any company has.

In the end my point is... we are looking at something (space program) that can potentially help humanity (cures for illness, hunger you name it) like something never before seen, the space exploration is still in diapers... it already has helped many people all over the world, why not continue to do it?