Chinese Moon

[Eric Mc]

Today, America bows out of significant manned exploration of space for 30 to 40 years (maybe forever) and hands the moon to the Chinese (or perhaps the Indians)..

Sad day.

[Spiritual_Beggar]

Makes sense...what with their lack of money and all.

[Eric Mc]

No sense at all. America has plenty of money - it's just a matter of what they choose to spend it on.

The American political system allows no continuation of vision. Each new administration undoes the projects started by the previous administration.

[Pothole]

why is it sad? what do we get from the exploration of space?

[Groober]

Pothole said:

why is it sad? what do we get from the exploration of space?

Knowledge.

[turbobloke]

Groober said:

Pothole said:

why is it sad? what do we get from the exploration of space?

Knowledge.

Humans' next home when 'space' runs out on Earth.

[singlecoil]

turbobloke said:

Groober said:

Pothole said:

why is it sad? what do we get from the exploration of space?

Knowledge.

Humans' next home when 'space' runs out on Earth.

Without ftl travel there will be no homes in space for the excess population I'm afraid.

[Eric Mc]

Pothole said:

why is it sad? what do we get from the exploration of space?

Humanity?

Pride?

Advancement?

Knowledge?

Excitement?

Inspiration?

Wealth (eventually)?

Guarantee of survival as a species (eventually)?

If it was such a waste of effort, why has the notion of spaceflight captivated mankind for thousands of years.

The nation that stops exploring, dies (or at the very least, loses its heart and soul).

Britain went this way 50 years ago.

America is going that way now.

New nations with new found powers and confidence are taking up the challenge whilst we in the West sink slowly into befuddled, self absorbed, old age.

That is the way of civillisations. They rise, they fall. The West is declining - the East is ascending.

[turbobloke]

singlecoil said:

turbobloke said:

Groober said:

Pothole said:

why is it sad? what do we get from the exploration of space?

Knowledge.

Humans' next home when 'space' runs out on Earth.

Without ftl travel there will be no homes in space for the excess population I'm afraid.

Not so, we don't have to go far, terraforming or enclosed communities are within the timescale of need and if not, and that need became urgent, the pace of technological developments would accelerate substantially. So the Moon or Mars could be overspill. Hell, even health and safety would take a back seat

[OnTheOverrun]

Eric Mc said:

Pothole said:

why is it sad? what do we get from the exploration of space?

Humanity?

Pride?

Advancement?

Knowledge?

Excitement?

Inspiration?

Wealth (eventually)?

Guarantee of survival as a species (eventually)?

If it was such a waste of effort, why has the notion of spaceflight captivated mankind for thousands of years.

The nation that stops exploring, dies (or at the very least, loses its heart and soul).

Britain went this way 50 years ago.

America is going that way now.

New nations with new found powers and confidence are taking up the challenge whilst we in the West sink slowly into befuddled, self absorbed, old age.

That is the way of civillisations. They rise, they fall. The West is declining - the East is ascending.

Which of those can only be achieved by the Americans and not by the Chinese or Indians?

Interesting to see an Irishman claiming Britain is dead because it no longer 'explores' (invades?) other places! Does that mean Ireland has never been alive and never had a heart and soul as it didn't explore?

[Mondeohdear]

Spiritual_Beggar said:

Makes sense...what with their lack of money and all.

Maybe the US could use the $6.4b they've just made from pissing off the Chinese by selling weapons to the Taiwanese to provide a bit of funding.

[Eric Mc]

OnTheOverrun said:

Eric Mc said:

Pothole said:

why is it sad? what do we get from the exploration of space?

Humanity?

Pride?

Advancement?

Knowledge?

Excitement?

Inspiration?

Wealth (eventually)?

Guarantee of survival as a species (eventually)?

If it was such a waste of effort, why has the notion of spaceflight captivated mankind for thousands of years.

The nation that stops exploring, dies (or at the very least, loses its heart and soul).

Britain went this way 50 years ago.

America is going that way now.

New nations with new found powers and confidence are taking up the challenge whilst we in the West sink slowly into befuddled, self absorbed, old age.

That is the way of civillisations. They rise, they fall. The West is declining - the East is ascending.

Which of those can only be achieved by the Americans and not by the Chinese or Indians?

Interesting to see an Irishman claiming Britain is dead because it no longer 'explores' (invades?) other places! Does that mean Ireland has never been alive and never had a heart and soul as it didn't explore?

I was talking about World Powers. Ireland, for all its cultural strengths, has never influenced the world in that way. Indeed, many of the "British" who helped explore the world were actually Irish men (and women) so, you could say they were an integral part of the "British" experiment. I know many Irish people may not care to admit this but it is true.

The great thing about space exploration - especially in our own Solar System - is that it will not necessitate the "invasion" and elimination of other cultures and intelligences - although that might be an issue for future extra Solar System exploration.

In the modern age, I would prefer that a nation with "democratic principles" take the lead in such matters rather than a nation which holds democratic principles in fairly low esteem.
Do you think that China will declare that any trip it makes to the moon will be "For All Mankind"?

[Eric Mc]

TVR Moneypit said:

Eric Mc said:

Today, America bows out of significant manned exploration of space for 30 to 40 years (maybe forever) and hands the moon to the Chinese (or perhaps the Indians)..

Sad day.

Any news links to this Eric?

And whilst we are on the subject of space travel, why did the Americans choose to go to the moon and the Russians choose to see how long they could keep their chaps in space for? What stratigic advantages did either of these two plans have to either of theese superpowers?

The Russians DID choose to go to the moon. They just lost the race and then pretended for the next 20 years that there never had been a race in the first place.

The surviving Russian lunar hardware is now on display in Star City.

[Russ35]

Just found this on NASA website

NASA said:

NASA Announces Two News Conferences To Discuss The 2011 Budget And A Bold New Approach To Exploration


WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold news conferences on Monday, Feb. 1, and Tuesday, Feb. 2, to discuss the fiscal year 2011 budget request and announce bold new developments in the nation's civil space effort.

On Monday, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Chief Financial Officer Beth Robinson will brief reporters about the agency's fiscal year 2011 budget during a teleconference at 12:30 p.m. EST. This is a change from the previously announced 3 p.m. Monday news conference in the James E. Webb Memorial Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Following remarks, reporters will have an opportunity to ask questions. To dial into the news conference, news media representatives should call:

800-857-5728 or 1-630-395-0025 and use the pass code "NASA"
A limited number of phone lines are available, so people are encouraged to call early. Replays of the teleconference will be available approximately one hour after the call ends. To listen to a replay, call:

866-431-2903 or 203-369-0952
On Tuesday, Administrator Bolden, Dr. John Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, will introduce new commercial space pioneers, launching a game-changing way of developing technology to send humans to space.

The announcement will take place at 10 a.m. in the National Press Club's ballroom, located at 529 14th Street NW in Washington. Reporters attending the event will have the opportunity to ask questions after remarks by Dr. Holdren and Administrator Bolden. NASA Television and the agency's Web site will carry the briefing live.

In addition to the two NASA events, Deputy Administrator Lori Garver will participate with Dr. Holdren in a briefing by the Office of Science and Technology Policy about the federal government's 2011 research and development budget. The briefing will take place at 1 p.m. EST, Monday, Feb. 1 in the auditorium of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The association is located at 1200 New York Avenue, NW, with an entrance at 12th St. and H St. NW.

[OnTheOverrun]

Eric Mc said:

I was talking about World Powers. Ireland, for all its cultural strengths, has never influenced the world in that way. Indeed, many of the "British" who helped explore the world were actually Irish men (and women) so, you could say they were an integral part of the "British" experiment. I know many Irish people may not care to admit this but it is true.

Indeed, it's even harder to get many Irish-Americans to realise that a huge number of the 'British' troops their country fought for independence were actually Irish. . . . . .

Eric Mc said:

In the modern age, I would prefer that a nation with "democratic principles" take the lead in such matters rather than a nation which holds democratic principles in fairly low esteem.
Do you think that China will declare that any trip it makes to the moon will be "For All Mankind"?

No, I don't but I'm not so sure America declarations of such lofty sentiment actually made any difference to the selfish aims that actually motivated them to go to the moon.

Should America explore space? Yes, if they can afford it, but as the 19th century was Britains so the 20th century was Americas the decline has already set in. I suspect space will belong to the east.

[Fittster]

Eric Mc said:

No sense at all. America has plenty of money - it's just a matter of what they choose to spend it on.

If I have huge amounts of debt do I have lots of money?

[singlecoil]

turbobloke said:

singlecoil said:

turbobloke said:

Groober said:

Pothole said:

why is it sad? what do we get from the exploration of space?

Knowledge.

Humans' next home when 'space' runs out on Earth.

Without ftl travel there will be no homes in space for the excess population I'm afraid.

Not so, we don't have to go far, terraforming or enclosed communities are within the timescale of need and if not, and that need became urgent, the pace of technological developments would accelerate substantially. So the Moon or Mars could be overspill. Hell, even health and safety would take a back seat

Yes so, I'm afraid. I loved science fiction as a youngster but I'm afraid the idea of colonies on Mars and the Moon big enough to make a dent in the world's over-population isn't just science fiction, but poor science fiction.

[Eric Mc]

Fittster said:

Eric Mc said:

No sense at all. America has plenty of money - it's just a matter of what they choose to spend it on.

If I have huge amounts of debt do I have lots of money?

However the debt has arisen, you still have choices as to what you NEED to spend money on.

[Tangent Police]

Will Gil Scott Heron change the title of his song to "Yellowy on the Moon"?

[turbobloke]

singlecoil said:

turbobloke said:

singlecoil said:

turbobloke said:

Groober said:

Pothole said:

why is it sad? what do we get from the exploration of space?

Knowledge.

Humans' next home when 'space' runs out on Earth.

Without ftl travel there will be no homes in space for the excess population I'm afraid.

Not so, we don't have to go far, terraforming or enclosed communities are within the timescale of need and if not, and that need became urgent, the pace of technological developments would accelerate substantially. So the Moon or Mars could be overspill. Hell, even health and safety would take a back seat

Yes so, I'm afraid. I loved science fiction as a youngster but I'm afraid the idea of colonies on Mars and the Moon big enough to make a dent in the world's over-population isn't just science fiction, but poor science fiction.

That's the point, you're commenting from a science fiction perspective, not a position of absolute necessity. Also the timescale of your view seems unrealistically short.