aflanigan wrote: 


Yeah. But. No kid was ever inspired to become an astronaut (or an aerospace engineer or a poet) by a datastream from a robot. The reasons to do personed flight may indeed be more emotional than rational: that fact does not necessarily tender those reasons invalid.

 mzpro5 wrote: 

It's great that he recognizes the massive cost and (some of the) failed promises surrounding the Shuttle program, but it's too bad he doesn't connect the dots to realize what others have regarding the increasing pointlessness and wastefulness of manned space flight.  As Bob Park has pointed out, we have two NASAs:  The glamour NASA that sends humans into space to mug for the cameras and do "science" that does nothing to advance scientific knowledge, and the "other NASA" that is focused on doing real science, quietly and without fanfare expands the boundaries of our understanding of the universe through technological advancements utilizing unmanned exploration of the solar system, and beyond.  The retirement of the Shuttle program should be seen as an appropriate time to reassess our national fixation with continuing manned space flight at all costs.  It makes for stirring speeches by politicians, and great movies like Apollo 13.  But we shouldn't let our reality be driven by fantastical notions, especially in financially pressing times like these.

 GeneP59 wrote: 


 

 winter wrote: 
What do you mean wear an ape suit? This is how I normally look!

 GeneP59 wrote: 
You could have worn an ape suit, too, if it meant so much to you.

I'm sooooo sad that we now have officially become a second rate nation.

 oldslabsides wrote: 
Mine was at the dry cleaners.

 oldslabsides wrote: 


They're still wearing theirs.

So did everyone wear ape suits?

I was woken up at 5:54 this morning by the familiar sonic booms that I've been hearing for the past 20 years or so as the shuttle lands. Whenever it happens, my first reaction is still, "omg, wtf was that?!?" Welcome back, Atlantis and RIP, shuttle program. I has a sad.

 rosedraws wrote: 

  

When the Space Shuttle lands, everybody wear Ape suits, pass it on.

I posted this on my journal entry but thought more people may see it here.

Ex-Astronaut Story Musgrave Blasts NASA, Washington, Over Space Shuttle Program Failures

From the article:

"The shuttle did not turn out like we planned," Dr. Story Musgrave told The Huffington Post. "It was going to 66 times a year and it ended up with about five times a year. It was going to cost $10 million a flight, and two months ago, an independent study showed that it cost $1.2 billion a flight. It was massively fragile, difficult to operate and exceedingly dangerous."

and

"The downside is the space station needs us, needs a shuttle to service it in a way that nothing else can," he said.

"I think what the real problem is: Why are we so poor in our vision and so poor in our project management that we come to a point where it's reasonable to phase out the current program and we have no idea what the next one is? Washington has to stop doing that."

"Washington is in total failure that this has happened," he added. "It is Washington's fault and they have to look in the mirror and have to see their failure. It's NASA, Washington, Congress and the administration — they are in failure."

As an example of what he perceives as NASA's failure "to have any vision leadership or project management," Musgrave talked about NASA's Assured Crew Return Vehicle — or escape module — proposal for the International Space Station.

"That's the lifeboat. In 1974, when we saw that a space station was going to happen, we had a requirement to have a lifeboat to be able to get off the station in case of a fire or some other catastrophe. That was 1974. Where is our lifeboat? We don't have one because there's no leadership in Washington, there is no vision and they're unable to manage a project like that.

"It can be a totally manually flown thing without a computer — it's so simply done, and we toyed with it for years. If you want to have the biggest example of failure in Washington to be able to do anything, where is the assured crew return vehicle?"

For my thoughts on the shuttle and America in space check out my journal entry.

 Zep wrote: 

Aw hell, LOTS of things would be great for Mixtape. I have a long, long list of ideas. It's torture when our turn comes around and we have to actually pick ONE.

 Alexandra wrote: 
That would have been great for Mixtape.

 

 Alexandra wrote: 

BillG is doing a rocket theme, for the occasion of the last Shuttle. (Or else it's a HUGE coincidence) 

 Businessgypsy wrote: 
I've only been over there to see one and that was in the early 90s. I had always wanted to catch a night launch but alas, it wasn't to be.

Been watching NASA all my life and it never fails to amaze.