Bob Zimmerman, author, "Universe in a Mirror" and "Leaving Earth," and I corresponded after the launch of
STS 127 Endeavor, and our debate as ever was on the drama of the shuttle. Bob has taught me that the shuttle program, scheduled to be closed down as early as September 2010, can and likely will be extended indefinitely in order to maintain a vehicle that can service the ISS. The
Obama administration does not aim to spend the money needed to build the Ares booster and the Orion six-man spacecraft for the return to the moon. Nor does there look to be money for a new and improved shuttle. NASA is going forward into the fifth decade since the moonlanding with aging equipment, limited manned horizons, a caretaker administration. Space exploration is not a passion of the Obama administration. The shuttle that launched this news cycle is likely to be launching repeatedly over the next four years. The foam that fell off will fall off repeatedly over the next four years. Bob Zimmerman argues convincingly that we need a new shuttle, that we need alternative launch vehicles (such as SpaceX), that we need focus on the next generation CEV. And that none of this will happen soon. "Very sad," Bob closed.
Bob Zimmerman, author, "Universe in a Mirror" and "Leaving Earth," and I corresponded after the launch of STS 127 Endeavor, and our debate as ever was on the drama of the shuttle. Bob has taught me that the shuttle program, scheduled to be closed down as early as September 2010, can and likely will be extended indefinitely in order to maintain a vehicle that can service the ISS. The Obama administration does not aim to spend the money needed to build the Ares booster and the Orion six-man spacecraft for the return to the moon. Nor does there look to be money for a new and improved shuttle. NASA is going forward into the fifth decade since the moonlanding with aging equipment, limited manned horizons, a caretaker administration. Space exploration is not a passion of the Obama administration. The shuttle that launched this news cycle is likely to be launching repeatedly over the next four years. The foam that fell off will fall off repeatedly over the next four years. Bob Zimmerman argues convincingly that we need a new shuttle, that we need alternative launch vehicles (such as SpaceX), that we need focus on the next generation CEV. And that none of this will happen soon. "Very sad," Bob closed.
To paraphrase an the famous quip about Von Braun, poor America--she aimed for the stars but hit Baghdad instead.
The shuttle program should have been left for the private sector to develop in the first place. The alternative option was to have a proud, patriotic government do it; one that was determined to prove to the world that America is, and will always be the best. Either option is no longer viable. Encumbered with government regulation and high taxation, the private sector has been left to whither on the vine. At the same time, government is proving itself to be inefficient, corrupt, apologetic and not the in least bit patriotic.
As such, what is happening to our shuttle program serves as a metaphor for what we can generally expect in the years to come: mediocrity, despair and an overall lack of vision; this, as we lurch from man-made disaster to man-made disaster. It occurs to me that as long as God was in charge, our lives were much simpler and infinitely more predictable.
Government was never meant to be more than a tool for the people to use to their best advantage. A tool can never exceed its prescribed function. By allowing government to grow unchecked at the expense of innovation and personal freedom is like letting a driverless bulldozer (tool) run through the neighborhood. Not every house will be taken; just enough to let everyone know that things are out of control.
So, the people either huddle in cellars or make plans to leave the neighborhood. All know that this is not the time to hang one's wash out to dry, much less build space shuttles. (Though, leaving the planet is fast becoming an attractive fantasy.)
There was a time when America was the ultimate destination for the downtrodden. I still hear it said almost every day here in India; the families of young Indians struggling to pay exorbitant sums to give the kids a chance to study or work in America. I hear the old folks proudly listing the members of their families who, in their estimation, have reached the ultimate rung on the ladder (somewhere in America). News of the runaway bulldozer has not reached here yet. And if it has, it’s promptly dismissed. “America is the richest country,” they keep reciting. “Nothing bad can ever happen there. It’s impossible.”
"Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens." Jimi Hendrix
It requires much more thoughtful processes to reference America's stellar accomplishments than to lazily demean and denounce Her with every stroke.
By the way, if anyone missed the list of the happiest places on Earth go to... http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/
What great machines, these shuttles; these workhorses. Bespeaks of the ingenuity and commitment founded in the American experience. Another collective example for all, who with similar design, would wish to emulate, if only they could. Of course, only a national *Endeavor* comparable to *Atlantis* could have sustained the *Enterprise* for such high *Discovery*
*Oh, Columbia! Meet Challenger!*
Why does the world look to America? Some wonder questioningly; others just wonder.
"What once was believed to be a doorway
Was soon seen to be some shadow at play." Spencer
"Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted." A Huxley
Whatever we do. No more solid rocket boosters. No more vehicles that trap the astronauts so they can't escape disaster. No more going and not staying. We go we set up shop and do something. We need new machines; one that gets us into space, one that gets stuff into space, one that goes to other planets with us and our stuff and one that goes from planet to planet. All serviced by the one that gets stuff into space.
Sounds good Greg! Now, if we can just breach that distance thing... we'll have it made!!!
I think the Saturn 5 booster developed 1.5 million horsepower, not because it was going for Guinness, but, because that was what was required.
*correction please Sorry!!*- that was 1.5 million pounds thrust 9not HP) for each engine for combined 7.5 million pounds thrust
From Boeing-http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/apollo11/factoids.html
# The power of one Saturn V was enough to place in Earth orbit all U.S. manned spacecraft previously launched at that time.
# The F-1's fuel pumps pushed fuel with the force of 30 diesel locomotives.
# Enough liquid oxygen was contained in the first stage tank to fill 54 railroad tank cars.
# The five F-1 engines equaled 160,000,000 horsepower, about double the amount of potential hydroelectric power that would be available at any given moment if all the moving waters of North America were channeled through turbines.
From Chandra:
The Space Shuttle's three main engines and two solid rocket boosters generate some 7.3 million pounds (3.3 million kilograms) of thrust at liftoff. Compare that with America's first two manned launch vehicles, the Redstone which produced 78,000 pounds (35,381 kilograms) of thrust, and the Atlas, which produced 360,000 pounds (163, 926 kilograms).
Each of the Shuttle's solid rocket motors burns 5 tons (5,080 kilograms) of propellant per second, a total of 1.1 million pounds (500,000 kilograms) in 120 seconds. The speed of the gases exiting the nozzle is more than 6,000 miles (9,656 kilometers) per hour, about five times the speed of sound or three times the speed of a high-powered rifle bullet. The plume of flame ranges up to 500 feet (152 meters) long.
The energy released by the three Space Shuttle main engines is equivalent to the output of 23 Hoover Dams.
*correction please Sorry!!- that was 1.5 million pounds thrust (not HP) for each engine for combined 7.5 million pounds thrust*
From Boeing-http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/apollo11/factoids.html
# The power of one Saturn V was enough to place in Earth orbit all U.S. manned spacecraft previously launched at that time.
# The F-1's fuel pumps pushed fuel with the force of 30 diesel locomotives.
# Enough liquid oxygen was contained in the first stage tank to fill 54 railroad tank cars.
# The five F-1 engines equaled 160,000,000 horsepower, about double the amount of potential hydroelectric power that would be available at any given moment if all the moving waters of North America were channeled through turbines.
From Chandra:
The Space Shuttle's three main engines and two solid rocket boosters generate some 7.3 million pounds (3.3 million kilograms) of thrust at liftoff. Compare that with America's first two manned launch vehicles, the Redstone which produced 78,000 pounds (35,381 kilograms) of thrust, and the Atlas, which produced 360,000 pounds (163, 926 kilograms).
Each of the Shuttle's solid rocket motors burns 5 tons (5,080 kilograms) of propellant per second, a total of 1.1 million pounds (500,000 kilograms) in 120 seconds. The speed of the gases exiting the nozzle is more than 6,000 miles (9,656 kilometers) per hour, about five times the speed of sound or three times the speed of a high-powered rifle bullet. The plume of flame ranges up to 500 feet (152 meters) long.
The energy released by the three Space Shuttle main engines is equivalent to the output of 23 Hoover Dams.
Ohhh... I so eembarrassed! Just how embarrassed are I?
I eembarrassed more than all the population of Venezuela is over their Presidente!
160 Millions of Horses? Me no savvy, Kemo Sabe. 160 Millions of Horses!