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Cruiser
Posts: 188
Tifton, GA | Out of 750,000 people was Liandra the only Vision that went and watched Atlantis final launch? She saw Discovery come home in March. Both were awsome to watch! |
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Tourer
Posts: 492
Indianapolis, IN | Never saw a single launch, probably one of my great regrets in life. I was thinking about it often yesterday. Glad you got to represent! |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 965
New York State | The end of an era no more US Space program |
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Tourer
Posts: 520
Simi Valley, CA | I have worked for NASA and NASA contractors for most of my career. I have worked on the Space Shuttle as well as the Mars Rovers and some of the most advanced weather satellites that this nation has ever produced.
The space shuttle was sold to America as cheap, safe and reliable. It was none of those.
It cost $196 billion over 40 years, ended the lives of 14 astronauts and managed to make less than half the flights promised.
Yet despite all that, there were some big achievements that weren't promised: major scientific advances, stunning photos of the cosmos, a high-flying vehicle of diplomacy that helped bring Cold War enemies closer, and something to brag about.
NASA's first space shuttle flight was in April 1981. The 135th and final launch was on Friday. I am not afraid to say that I shed a tear watching that vehicle blast it's way into space for the last time. Once Atlantis lands at the end of a 12-day mission, it and the other two remaining shuttles are officially museum pieces.
I for one have never been a big fan of the Shuttle, but I cannot dismiss its importance to manned space flight in the United States.
We have no clear direction for our country to get back into the manned space flight business. I find that very disappointing.
It has been almost 42 years since man first set foot on the moon. What will be the next big thing we do in space? Will I be around to witness it? If our government keeps going on the path we are on now, I highly doubt it.
While Neil Armstrong called his first steps on the moon, one giant leap for mankind, I feel that the end of this countries manned space flights is one giant step backwards for the United States.
Edited by Cometman 2011-07-09 3:41 PM
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Iron Butt
Posts: 721
| Tim, what I have never understood about NASA is why one they get something that works they abandon it for something completely new, in my educated mindset it seems like they are always dead set in reinventing the wheel. I have been a fan of the shuttle since I was kid and watched the first shuttle launch as a freshman in high school. I still have all the Chicago papers printed on that day when Columbia first launched.
While the shuttle system is expensive and somewhat risky (something they have worked to improve safety protocols after both accidents) I consider the entire program in the view if it being a test program, the Air Force doesn't begin production of a new air craft without hundreds of flights and the shuttle program has only had 135 flights. The cost savings originally envisioned would have occurred if the "test" program had matured into a production program with dozens of shuttles being built and launching from not just the Cape but also the Vandenburg AFB facility which was completed but has never seen a launch. We should keep the shuttle program going with new shuttles AND build new equipment to take us out of LEO and back to the moon and Mars. Yes, it takes lots of money but it also would employ thousands of people as well as spawning new innovations and technologies.
The thing that has always made the shuttle unique among any other launch system it that not only can it take large amounts of cargo up to orbit but that it can also safely bring cargo back to ground so that it can be analyzed and possibly re-used instead of letting it burn up upon re-entry. |
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Visionary
Posts: 3006
San Antonio, TX | hoosiervic - 2011-07-09 10:22 AM
Never saw a single launch, probably one of my great regrets in life. I was thinking about it often yesterday. Glad you got to represent!
+1 |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 1109
| hoosiervic - 2011-07-09 10:22 AM
Never saw a single launch, probably one of my great regrets in life. I was thinking about it often yesterday. Glad you got to represent!
me too |
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Visionary
Posts: 1359
New Bohemia, Va | Trekwolf164 - 2011-07-09 11:32 AM
The end of an era no more US Space program
...and the beginning of an error... |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 965
New York State | The Shuttle was designed to be a Space Truck it's original purpose was to build a ring station made up of Saturn 5 sections it was designed along with Apollo.
Then Nixion cut the budget the original Ring station was reduced to Skylab.
TheApollo was killed and the Shuttle redesigned as an observation platform it exceeded the expectations of the original designers.
ISS is a wonder but without the means to visit we have lost our hold on the sky |
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New user
Posts: 1
| I had the good fortune to see the launch of STS-84. Night launch. Awesome!!! |
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Tourer
Posts: 492
Indianapolis, IN | FL-510 - 2011-07-11 7:35 PM I had the good fortune to see the launch of STS-84. Night launch. Awesome!!! Welcome aboard FL-510! Tell us a little about yourself when you get a chance. |
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Shuttle Atlantis launch