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Fireballn
Skeptic Friend
Canada
179 Posts |
 Posted - 02/02/2003 : 03:09:33
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There is nothing to say....our hearts are with the families of the shuttle........that's it....nothing else to say
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If i were the supreme being, I wouldn't have messed around with butterflies and daffodils. I would have started with lasers 8 o'clock day one!
-Time Bandits- |
Edited by - Fireballn on 02/02/2003 03:10:46
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riptor
Skeptic Friend
Germany
70 Posts |
Posted - 02/02/2003 : 05:27:10 [Permalink]
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Thanks, Fireballn
I'm just curious if anyone draws the right conclusion and finally begins to modenrize space travel. |
Hail the Big bearded Jellyfish up in heaven above. |
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Mespo_man
Skeptic Friend
USA
312 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2003 : 13:21:40 [Permalink]
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My conclusion would be that they should retire the shuttle fleet and use cheap expendable rockets for lifting payloads to the ISS. Then NASA would have lots more money to spend on space research rather that fritter it away on "classic cars".
(:raig |
Rape, Pillage, THEN Burn. [Mongolian Hoards Handbook] |
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@tomic
Administrator
USA
4607 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2003 : 20:28:29 [Permalink]
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[Moved this topic to General Discussion]
One thing that I think many people have missed is that perhaps the greatest tribute to the Columbia crew, besides a thorough investigation, is a quick return to manned spaceflight. Some of the talk shows going on about whether we should stop manned missions in favor of robotic missions would be the last thing the Columbia crew would have wanted. But I guess that's television for you.
@tomic |
Gravity, not just a good idea...it's the law!
Sportsbettingacumen.com: The science of sports betting |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2003 : 04:50:15 [Permalink]
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http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/04/opinion/04KRUG.html?th
February 4, 2003
A Failed Mission
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Sme commentators have suggested that the Columbia disaster is more than a setback — that it marks the end of the whole space shuttle program. Let's hope they're right.
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I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter
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riptor
Skeptic Friend
Germany
70 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2003 : 07:47:47 [Permalink]
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quote:
Let's hope they're right.
What way? For the end of the shuttle as an over-aged antiquity or for the end of manned space exploration at all? |
Hail the Big bearded Jellyfish up in heaven above. |
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PhDreamer
SFN Regular
USA
925 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2003 : 11:35:33 [Permalink]
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This article was written in 1980 by one Gregg Easterbrook, for whom I have great admiration. He writes a column on espn.com under the guise of "Sports Guy."
Anyway, this article was brought to my attention by a piece on msnbc.com as an example of journalistic prescience. They weren't kidding.
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I believe that, as a species, human beings define their reality through suffering and misery.
-Agent Smith |
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Wurrwakh the Ass Monkey
New Member
USA
18 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2003 : 01:25:15 [Permalink]
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Hi, you people, you. I've just been in Caitlin Kiernan's website forum talking about this, and I think she brings up a good point about heroism, or what's perceived as heroic, in this day and age. Basically, the word has been bastardized to the point that truly heroic people are no longer acknowledged the way they should be. The Columbia crew are heroic in the trust sense of the word, but we've grown into a society that doesn't value heroism in its true form. Sad, but undeniably true. I only hope we can dig ourselves out of this squalor we wallow in.
Oh, btw, I'm Jim. I'm drunk again. Carry on. |
--Wurrwakh, A.M. |
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Orpheus
Skeptic Friend
92 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2003 : 03:26:11 [Permalink]
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I agree, the Columbia crew are true heroes. They died as scientists and embody the one thing we can be proud of as humans: curiosity.
Despite this however, I cannot help but think that manned missions into space is somewhat pointless. Carl Sagan used to be an outspoken critic of manned missions, with good reason. Some of them are (not neccessarily all his):
1. Manned missions are extremely expensive, since they have to include life-support systems and multiple safety redundancies. Sagan used to point out that a "grand-tour" of the solar system by unmanned (make that unpeopled) probes could be funded for the cost of the budget overruns on a single nuclear missile system. Wow.
2. There are few if any things we can do in space AT PRESENT that robots cannot do better.
3. Unmanned missions can be conducted with greater frequency and investigate phenomena which humans cannot, since we are really, really fragile creatures.
4. A loss of an robotic probe will not turn public opinion against the space program as readily as the loss of a peopled one. Remember that NASA is ultimately funded by tax dollars. It doesn't take that many "why should we send our sons and daughters to die in outer space if Iraq is closer" letters to congress reps to tie NASA's purse-strings.
All in all, I hate to admit it, (I would SO love to be an astronaut), but there are mostly political, rather than scientific reasons for people being sent into space at present. This includes the ultra-expensive ISS. Comments? |
Find your own damned answers! |
| Edited by - Orpheus on 02/21/2003 03:10:27 |
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