Elon Musk will solve that non-problem, given a little time and a level playing field.Hmm...
Elon Musk will solve that non-problem, given a little time and a level playing field.
I can't help but think that if any private company were capable manned launches, they'd have done so already. Otherwise, why would NASA be paying the Russian government to send their astronauts to the ISS if an American corporation were able and willing? They already use SpaceX to get supplies into orbit, so there's no reason they wouldn't do the same for people if they had the option.Elon Musk will solve that non-problem, given a little time and a level playing field.Hmm...
If Russia doesn't back down soon NASA might try to get USA and other countries to throw some money at SpaceX or at least make a contract with them for doing missions to ISS (which will make investors throw money at them.)
So this might end up well. (Having the alternative of a private corporation doing space mission is a good thing but I certainly do not trust a company so much that I wouldn't also want some goverments being involved in space missions. But more competition might keep things balanced.)
He might have self interest in mind when stopping the purchase of the rocket engines but he does have a point. USA made some sanctions to pressure Russia and until those sanctions are removed NASA will have to wait.Elon Musk will solve that non-problem, given a little time and a level playing field.
Here I was thinking Musk won a U.S. Court of Federal Claims case prohibiting Soyuz launches in the U.S. (http://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/spacex-wins-court-injunction-block-russian-rocket-engine-purchases-n94361) He basically created the problem to benefit his own company at the expense of losing the only launch vehicle we have for manned spaceflight.
There's a huge conflict of interest here and Musk is right in the middle of it.
*sigh* There goes Glasnost! 20-something years of goodwill between us & the Ruskies shot to hell. Thanks a lot, Putin!History will not judge Putin kindly.
Well, this may be the thing we need to get NASA back in the "Blast Folks Into Space & Stuff" again! Hopefully, we would have voted out most or all of the Far-Right nuts out of Washington & be more willing to give NASA more money!
Heck, I've read that even many Republican voters are sick of the idiots passing for "Republican" these days. It would be great for Democrats to reach out to sane Republicans & Conservatives who aren't Far-Right crazy! We're in this together!
And who wants to sit on that smelly ol ISS, anyway? With our sanctions, it might hurt upkeep and god knows what would happen on that thing.
*sigh* I remember the days of Gorbechev, Peristroika, Glasnost, the fall of the USSR, the burgeoning partnership between us & Moscow. It wasn't a perfect friendship but it was something, considering our history. Granted, guys like Yeltsin were incompetent buffoons but at least Russians had more rights, LGBTs had more rights, Russia wasn't as invade-happy (though they still messed with Georgia & Chechnya on occasion) & things seemed fine between us.....
*sigh* There goes Glasnost! 20-something years of goodwill between us & the Ruskies shot to hell. Thanks a lot, Putin!History will not judge Putin kindly.
Well, this may be the thing we need to get NASA back in the "Blast Folks Into Space & Stuff" again! Hopefully, we would have voted out most or all of the Far-Right nuts out of Washington & be more willing to give NASA more money!
Heck, I've read that even many Republican voters are sick of the idiots passing for "Republican" these days. It would be great for Democrats to reach out to sane Republicans & Conservatives who aren't Far-Right crazy! We're in this together!
And who wants to sit on that smelly ol ISS, anyway? With our sanctions, it might hurt upkeep and god knows what would happen on that thing.
*sigh* I remember the days of Gorbechev, Peristroika, Glasnost, the fall of the USSR, the burgeoning partnership between us & Moscow. It wasn't a perfect friendship but it was something, considering our history. Granted, guys like Yeltsin were incompetent buffoons but at least Russians had more rights, LGBTs had more rights, Russia wasn't as invade-happy (though they still messed with Georgia & Chechnya on occasion) & things seemed fine between us.....
So, going by Spuki's comparison, Putin is actually Kreacher?
Another house elf, not as nice as Dobby.So, going by Spuki's comparison, Putin is actually Kreacher?
I'm afraid I don't get the reference. Who's Kreacher?
Another house elf, not as nice as Dobby.So, going by Spuki's comparison, Putin is actually Kreacher?
I'm afraid I don't get the reference. Who's Kreacher?
Another house elf, not as nice as Dobby.So, going by Spuki's comparison, Putin is actually Kreacher?
I'm afraid I don't get the reference. Who's Kreacher?
You should give Harry Potter a read, sometime, Spuki. Unlike Twilight and Fifty Shades ofRapeGrey, its popular because its good.
Well, except for the epilogue. Everyone hates the epilogue.
Well, except for the epilogue. Everyone hates the epilogue.
Wait what? I loved the epilogue. The only hate I've seen towards it is that it ruined some ships.
And now you've spoiled it for Spukitty. Normally I would assume that people already know about the plot to so popular book/movie series but she specifically said she didn't.Well, except for the epilogue. Everyone hates the epilogue.
Wait what? I loved the epilogue. The only hate I've seen towards it is that it ruined some ships.(click to show/hide)
Well, except for the epilogue. Everyone hates the epilogue.
Wait what? I loved the epilogue. The only hate I've seen towards it is that it ruined some ships.
And now you've spoiled it for Spukitty. Normally I would assume that people already know about the plot to so popular book/movie series but she specifically said she didn't.Well, except for the epilogue. Everyone hates the epilogue.
Wait what? I loved the epilogue. The only hate I've seen towards it is that it ruined some ships.(click to show/hide)
It's just like old times. Back when going from the ISS to Harry Potter within a single page was business as usual.
I've seen it put that a big problem with the US space program is that every President comes in with a different vision of what it should be, and so the wheel keeps being reinvented. In Russia, they've just kept using the same design since they started.
I've seen it put that a big problem with the US space program is that every President comes in with a different vision of what it should be, and so the wheel keeps being reinvented. In Russia, they've just kept using the same design since they started.
That's quite true. The American Apollo program was cut short by a combination of the expenses of the Vietnam War, and (reportedly) Richard Nixon's desire to stamp out something associated with JFK (who of course beat his ass in the 1960 election). Werner Von Braun's ambitious Apollo Applications Program was chopped down to Skylab, and the United States didn't make a single manned space flight from mid 1975 through April 1981 because NASA was developing Nixon's darling, the Space Shuttle. Hell, two complete Saturn 5s and two complete Saturn 1Bs went completely unflown (you can see components of them at Cape Canaveral, Houston, and Huntsville)
During the Duhbya Administration, Project Constellation was announced to be the post-Space Shuttle manned space flight program. In 2010 the Obama Administration cancelled Constellation, and announced the Space Launch System.
The Russians, meanwhile, have been using essentially the same Vostok launch vehicle since 1961 (modified and modernized over time, but essentially the same). The Soyuz spacecraft that ferry cosmonauts and astronauts to the ISS has gone through three design upgrades, but is essentially the same spacecraft that first flew in 1967, about the same time Apollo was getting ready for its first mission.
So, yeah, NASA's been a poliitical football for a long time. If Obama's successor is a Republican, the SLS will undoubtedly be cancelled and replaced with something else. If Obama's successor is a Democrat, well, it might still be cancelled and replaced with something else.
I'm sure, if we could phrase it in nothing but baby talk, that they'd pour a tonne of money into it if we said we could use it to intimidate the nasty brown countries.
I'm sure, if we could phrase it in nothing but baby talk, that they'd pour a tonne of money into it if we said we could use it to intimidate the nasty brown countries.That or the Russkies. After all, Putin seems hell-bent on restarting the Cold War.
I'm sure, if we could phrase it in nothing but baby talk, that they'd pour a tonne of money into it if we said we could use it to intimidate the nasty brown countries.That or the Russkies. After all, Putin seems hell-bent on restarting the Cold War.