When are they going to dump the Space Shuttle mission? Everytime it's the same boring thing.?

Question

We've been doing this for decades now and the Space Station still isn't built. There seems to be problems with each launch, and it's just a matter of time before the next disaster. We put men on the Moon in 1969 with slide rule technology yet somehow got bamboozeled into this boring, senseless waste of money. At least in the '60's we got Tang for all the billions we spent.

Answer 1

It has to end by 2010. New safety launch rules go into effect and The shuttle can't even come close to meeting them. The shuttle which was supposed to make money and launch once a a week and th ISS are both jokes.

Answer 2

Well, we've gotten a lot more than Tang from the space program--including much of the technology in the computer you're using, medical technology that saves thousands of lives every year, weather satellites, sattelite TV and other communications satellites, GPS technology, and a lot more.

The thing NASA is trying to do is complete the ISS before the Space Shuttle has to be grounded completely (3-5 years). One of the main reasons for this is that the "replacement" won't have the lift capacity of the Shuttle.

That "replacement," BTW, is not really new technology. NASA wanted to develop a state-of-tehe-art system, using all that's been learned in the last 25 years. In fact, they've been trying to do that since the early 1990's. Congress, through last year, has killed every program they've come up with.

What we are getting (using money from cancelled Shuttle missions) is a patchwork job: a modified SRB (solid rocket booster) from the Shuttle program, topped by a second stage using an engine of thekind the Shuttle itself uses--and a fuel tank of the same type the shuttle uses. The "spacecraft" is an enlarged version of the Apollo (c. 1960's) capsule with updated electronics and materials.

Why? Simple. Although in the past, both the GOP and the Democrats have been very supportive of basic science and the technology research of the space program (for the very good reason it helped keep America at the top economically and militarily--and has paid for itself many times over) that hasn't been true for the last dozen years.

The current political leadership has no interest in science or technology unless it serves their political agenda--and actively opposes much scientific research for ideological reasons. Whether the Democrats willl do any better remains to be seen.

But they had better get on the stick. Other cuntries realize that space--and the technology and science from space activities--are going to be as important in the next 50 years as computers were in the last 50. That's why the following countries now have active space programs (including several manned programs either operational or in the planning statges): Britain, France, Germany, Italy, India, Russia, China, Australia, Japan. And the list is growing.

We either get serious about space travel again--or we become a second-rate country sceientifically, technologically, and eventually economically.

Answer 3

Unfortunately too few Americans realise just how many things in their homes are a result of NASA research and development. And, not just Tang either. So, anything to do with space isn't a priority with the populace.
As far as something going wrong almost every time.... The more complex a system is, the greater the chance of something going wrong in that system. The Shuttle is the most complex machine ever built by man. The most powerful machine ever built is also a NASA product: the Saturn V rocket.
The extended time table for the ISS is a result of NASA having to step up and take over things that were supposed to be done by other countries' space agencies.
And, yeah, I still think my favorite scene in the movie "Apollo 13" is where Lovell [Tom Hanks] needs Houston to check his conversion numbers and it cuts to mission control and you see all these slide rules come out. Amazing what we can accomplish when, and if, we all want to accomplish something.

Answer 4

man you are such an idiot. when the space shuttle first started it used to be on commercial tv cause it was the new thing on the block. now its so common its not news anymore. but waste of money hardly. the space station itself will never be finished. as technology changes so will the need of the ppl and the space program. the space station is like a growing organism. it will grow along with the needs of the planet. the space shuttle itself that is the ship is beyond its prime. it shouldve been retired by now. soon i believe within the next 5 years i believe the shuttle's replacement will start doing what the shuttle is now

Answer 5

Actually, we've had several space stations. MIR, ISS - where have you been?

What happened to the last shuttle you launched? Oh, you didn't? Because it's complicated? Well, then.

Yeah, let's get rid of all organized sports - they are too violent and I think they are boring. No more money for sports! Ban sports! Oh, and the war too. Since it cost trillions and only succeed at killing people.

Answer 6

construction on the International space station did not begin when the shuttle program began.. the space station construction started in 1998 and is scheduled (if everthing goes according to plan) to be complete by 2010 when NASA retires the entire space shuttle fleet.

Answer 7

I really don't even know what to say to such stupidity. I REALLY don't. Since you think you haven't gotten anything from space tech, I think it's time you took that computer you're sitting at and dumped it in the trash, because it's a by-product, and you SURELY wouldn't want to use any contaminated technology, right???

Neo-Luddites bore the hell out of me.

Answer 8

It was the best solution at the time and considering the difficult nature of the task I'd say it was a sucessful undertaking.