Thursday, July 21, 2011

WHEELS STOP: There's lots I could say about the end of the Space Shuttle program. Too much of it skirts The Rule. So, instead, I offer you Deep Space Homer.

That said. Welcome Back, Atlantis.

10 comments:

  1. Jim Bell10:51 AM

    I like space program topics. Please say more about the end of the shuttle program, please.  Apolitical of course.  Please.  I need something good today.

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  2. During the Dismemberment Plan reunion, in interviews the band discussed how Joe Easley was doing robotics for NASA (I'm in awe of the "sick drummer/NASA robotics expert" career hyphenate), and I'm still curious about whether his project made it into the last space shuttle.

    Sad to see the program end. To this day I read Kennedy's Rice University speech when I need inspiration.

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  3. I am really sad that the program is ending.  When I was in fifth grade, my dad took my grandfather and I to DC for the first time.  My grandfather didn't finish high school, was a radio repairman, and had only ever left East LA to travel to Seattle (where we lived) and Mexico (family origins).  I will never forget his wonder as he peered into the lunar module at Air and Space - his face just lit up.  I always think of him when I visit and know he would have loved to have seen how the shuttle became such a critical factor in the amazing discoveries we have made in recent decades.   Thanks to the engineers at NASA for giving us such an amazing ride. 

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  4. Andrew12:53 PM

    I'm not sad that the space shuttle program is ending, but I am tremendously sad that there's no actual manned spaceflight program that's following it up. 

    The end of the Gemini program brought the beginning of Apollo and the moon landing program. The end of Apollo brought the space shuttle and the idea of making space flight routine and uneventful. (Which didn't quite work out that way -- space flight is still dangerous, risky and expensive.) And now? There's some preliminary work towards a manned expedition to Mars. There's some development into new launch systems and crew capsules by NASA. There's a developing private space launch industry and the nascent begining of space tourism (starting at $200,000 for a suborbital flight.)

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  5. I'm sad about the end of the shuttle era also.  I just finished reading Mary Roach's book "Packing for Mars: the Curious Science of Life in the Void" and think that space nut would enjoy it.  I loved it, and I have to admit, it made me glad that I never got to live out the fantasy of being an astronaut!

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  6. My parents are both Rice alums, and I applied early decision there and didn't get in, but damn if that speech (especially Kennedy's "Why does Rice play Texas?" joke) isn't almost as great as the Ultimate Coach Taylor Pep Talk.

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  7. Squid3:16 PM

    It's hard to state without drifting dangerously close to The Rule, but here goes: my consolation is that the up-and-coming private launch companies should have some workable systems in a fraction of the time and expense that the NASA bureaucracy would require.  If there must be a gap in our launch capability, let's keep it as short as possible!

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  8. Jim Bell3:53 PM

    So, OK, I think the rule is no politics, but isn't the rule just no politics that criticize one team or the other (that being according to my favorite comedian the parties of no ideas and/or bad ideas)?  So, for example, the general critique of government programs and how inefficient they are, doesn't really attack any politics does it?

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  9. I'm sad about the ending of the shuttle program because NASA, and more specifically, KSC, has been such HUGE factor in my existence. My parents met while working at KSC in the early 60s, and my dad worked out there until his retirement in the mid-90s. My mom still works out there, and hopefully, will continue to have a job. My brother just left one of the contractors in anticipation of an eventual layoff because of the ending of the program. I literally would not exist without the space program, and I hope that my hometown doesn't disappear off the earth.

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  10. Jim Bell9:46 AM

    That's sad.  I hope not too!

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