NASA announcing a return of manned space flight today.

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Blintok

Senior member
Jan 30, 2007
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"The return of human space flight launches to the United States"

Where are they launching from? Tokyo to the US kind of thing? Makes sense. Damn bush didn't see this one coming, huehuehue!

well i can see how it can be interpreted that way but. I read it as ...NASA is making at announcement of the return of manned spaceflight to (the citizens) of the USA

surprised the PC police (politically correct) arent jumping on this announcement as being sexist.
 

Ruptga

Lifer
Aug 3, 2006
10,246
207
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I hate announcements about announcements. If they had anything really important to say they'd just say it, because it would have enough weight to stand on its own. Instead it's probably just that X and Y contracts were awarded to A and B companies and they're going to do some fairly cool stuff within the next ten years. Nobody but space nerds really cares about that sort of thing, so instead of just spitting it out they give us several hours to work ourselves into a lather with baseless speculation.
 

bradly1101

Diamond Member
May 5, 2013
4,689
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www.bradlygsmith.org
I never thought the return on investment for space flight came even close to being worth it. That money could be so much more useful if it went to other things. What have we got out of it besides beating the Ruskys to the moon?
 

Ruptga

Lifer
Aug 3, 2006
10,246
207
106
I never thought the return on investment for space flight came even close to being worth it. That money could be so much more useful if it went to other things. What have we got out of it besides beating the Ruskys to the moon?




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NASA's FY 2011 budget of $18.4 billion represented about 0.5% of the $3.4 trillion United States federal budget during that year, or about 35% of total spending on academic scientific research in the United States.

Yeah, .5% of our budget is way too much to pay for GPS or all the research in biology, physics, astronomy, chemistry, materials science, etc. that's only possible with a space program.
 

tynopik

Diamond Member
Aug 10, 2004
5,245
500
126
I never thought the return on investment for space flight came even close to being worth it. That money could be so much more useful if it went to other things. What have we got out of it besides beating the Ruskys to the moon?

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zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,851
31,343
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I never thought the return on investment for space flight came even close to being worth it. That money could be so much more useful if it went to other things. What have we got out of it besides beating the Ruskys to the moon?

Generally, I'm not a big fan of the "Trust us, we know what we're doing" type of responses; but when it comes to basic science, and the average plebeian's understanding of the incalculable benefits gained by society through research which begins at basic science and the funding necessary to generate this research, I say: "Shut the fuck up and trust us."
 

Franz316

Golden Member
Sep 12, 2000
1,024
543
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I never thought the return on investment for space flight came even close to being worth it. That money could be so much more useful if it went to other things. What have we got out of it besides beating the Ruskys to the moon?

Good thing our ancestors didn't think that way.
 

K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
52,600
46,249
136
1st flight will take place in 2017 :eek:

3yr turn around time?!

For manned spaceflight that isn't bad. Neither launcher is man rated yet and the capsules themselves, while in large part already developed, are still progressing to being crewed vehicles.
 

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
359
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Everyone has completely forgot about all previous announcements, timelines, and plans that the agency told us about forever ago, eh?

The "return" to manned missions through official NASA platforms was in the books before the Shuttle program was even given the order to finally shut down. They extended the Shuttle program longer than designed, iirc, and they had a plan to develop new rockets that would enable us to return to the Moon and, in time, to Mars.

The original time tables seem to be holding well, thus far. I think they originally intended manned flight in 2018, moon sometime between 2020-2025, with sights on Mars.

Then again, it seems the new time table is suggesting NASA isn't ready to put men on the new rockets they are developing. The original 2018 or thereabouts plan involved all-NASA product (which still involves Boeing and/or Northrop Grumman contracts, traditionally, for production of said rockets and vehicles... iirc), not contracting it out to private industry. The private industry contracts had originally been made to provide continued flight between the end of the Shuttle program and the start of the replacement program.

Then again, considering I can't be bothered to look up the facts and am only vaguely remembering what I saw years ago, I might have some of this wrong. ;)
Come to think of it, I think 2018 was perhaps the first test of the vehicles meant to be manned in the first place, with actual manned flights occurring around 2020, with the Moon as the first destination following that.
 

bradly1101

Diamond Member
May 5, 2013
4,689
294
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www.bradlygsmith.org
Search Results

NASA's FY 2011 budget of $18.4 billion represented about 0.5% of the $3.4 trillion United States federal budget during that year, or about 35% of total spending on academic scientific research in the United States.

Yeah, .5% of our budget is way too much to pay for GPS or all the research in biology, physics, astronomy, chemistry, materials science, etc. that's only possible with a space program.

Yeah $18.4B is chump change:colbert: According to this the total since 1958 is over $555B. What have we got out of it besides bragging rights and pretty pictures?
 

tynopik

Diamond Member
Aug 10, 2004
5,245
500
126
Yeah $18.4B is chump change:colbert: According to this the total since 1958 is over $555B. What have we got out of it besides bragging rights and pretty pictures?

Yeah, other than GPS, weather observations, global communications, total war domination and velcro, what did space ever do for us?
 

Ruptga

Lifer
Aug 3, 2006
10,246
207
106
Whoever said that there's no such thing as a stupid question was dead wrong. Everyone that's not willfully ignorant has at least some inkling of how the world has benefited from space programs (not to mention the many examples already given and ignored). Arguing to the contrary is just about up there with arguing that the Earth is only a few thousand years old. I don't waste my time arguing with the willfully ignorant.

Anyway, it looks like the announcement they announced yesterday is really meh. They finally awarded the contracts we knew they would be awarding, and the timetables are completely unsurprising. I do think these contracts will result in interesting developments, especially with SpaceX, but that's also old news.
 
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mmntech

Lifer
Sep 20, 2007
17,501
12
0
Great to see the US getting back in the space game. Good news for partner space agencies as well. Guess since Putin is being a dick, they figured they better get off their asses.

Yeah $18.4B is chump change:colbert: According to this the total since 1958 is over $555B. What have we got out of it besides bragging rights and pretty pictures?

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