Just how tenuous is our toehold in space?
 

NY Times Supplies of food and water on the station have fallen so low that if a Russian cargo vessel scheduled to arrive on Dec. 25 has a mishap or is significantly delayed, the astronauts, one American and one Russian, will have to abandon the station and return home months ahead of schedule, the NASA officials said.

I guess I'm glad the government monopoly is breaking down. It still doesn't feel good when you think of all the people/hours spent on these economically artificial settlements. This is pathetic. However, if Elspode could get the pizza n pop contract...

I guess its just me but I'm not sure why this is getting so blown up. Space on the station is at a premium so they can't store a lot of extra food (a 45-day reserve is apparently the norm). The supply convoy is on the way and if its reasonably on schedule then the food supply will be amply replenished. This just doesn't seem to be different than any other 'outpost' scenario.

And it came as a mild surprise that they are consuming food at the rate of 3,000 calories a day. Considering they don't need to expend any energy to resist gravity that seems like a lot.

The idea of Els picking up a service contract for the station is intriquing but I think he'd end up working for tips since there's no way in hell he'd make it in 30 minutes or less http://www.cellar.org/images/smilies/smile.gif

I think they exercise regularily to keep their muscle mass up.

They should just close that stupid thing already, awe inspiring waste of cash if there ever was one.

If we are ever going to move out into space, we have to start somewhere with something. It is really expensive but hopefully, in the long run, it will have been worth it. I think it would be a lot cooler, though, to have a base on the moon or Mars. Hopefully, that's next on the list. I just hope they are able to fix the Hubble. Now that is money well spent.

Toehold to be lost.
 

Our toehold in space, like our toehold in supersonic passenger transport, is going to be lost. We're entering a new dark age brought on by conservatism (not the political kind, but the older meaning) and fear. Without something to drive the government into space, and with the various governments poised to kill any private initiative through immediate over-regulation (could the Wright Brothers have flown under FAA regs?), space will remain out of reach.

America's fascination with space has died. And this among other reasons has resulted in a large drop of funding for NASA. Missions to space are amazingly expensive and often yield few results that people can hang on to. In our increasingly immediate gratification society, space fervor is gone.

Well let's face it, stuff like Galileo and Cassini, or even Apollo, don't look as good as Star Wars. When we have a cool fighter ship like Ob-Wan Kenobi flew in Episode II, people will come around.

Just wait until another country develops and successfully maintains a space program such as ours, with (ideally) regular exploratory flights out into the Nothing, especially if that program managed to run smoother and more efficiently than ours. Suddenly our space program will get all kinds of attention and funding because we Americans have to be the biggest/best in the world at anything that's high profile like that.

Perhaps that is true but all that will change as soon as we find one extra terrestial bacterium or come up with a practical interstellar propulsion system. My point is that we shouldn't just wait for public opinion to come around. We have to keep pushing. If Congress can find money for all the insane projects they keep funding then surely we can find money to fix the Hubble, build the "new Hubble" (the one in the dead zone b/w earth and the sun - forget the name), maintain the space station and continue with all the research needed to advance the sciences related to space travel and stuff.

The new toehold will be from private entrepreneurs. In my lifetime a trip to outer space will be the price of a theme park all-day ticket and $100,000 will get you an overnighter on the moon.

People should press for infrastructure projects that actually have a long-term return, like cheap high-speed maglev underground city-to-city transit or something. (It has to be cool to be saleable to the public)

And besides, there are plenty of places to spend that extra money for people who are living (and will continue to live) on planet Earth. :eyebrow:

There must be room on one of those little Scramjet planes for a large meat feast and a side order of garlic bread.

I agree. One thing many people aren't aware of are the multitude of secondary technological inventions that arise during the course of building and performing a mission. Velcro...yeah...velcro.

I guess I'm just a big nerd. I mean, if the Mars rovers, Galileo or Cassini were even just 1% cooler then they are, I would have to change my underwear twice a day just to keep the spooge stains to a minimum.

I like the space program. A lot.