Just how tenuous is our toehold in space?

[TheSnake]

Originally Posted by Beestie

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.

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.

[Elspode]

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.

[Griff]

Cuban missile crisis just one of at least 4 other crises

By Mark McDonald

Knight Ridder Newspapers



MOSCOW - The Cuban missile crisis erupted in October 1962 when it was discovered that the Soviet Union had installed nuclear warheads on the island and targeted them at the United States. After a tense, 13-day standoff, the Soviets blinked and withdrew the missiles.
"We literally looked down the gun barrel into nuclear war," former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara said in the documentary film, "The Fog of War."


"In the end, we lucked out. It was luck that prevented nuclear war."


The missile crisis is merely the best known of the close calls with nuclear war. There have been at least four others.

I suppose one strike against private launches is that the public agencies may just blow us all to hell when they detect a launch. At least SDI is incapable of leaving the silo at this point so they may not slaughter all the private space flights.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Elspode

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.

So it doesn't bother you that all those images are coming from a Hollywood back lot? :hafucking