Last Space Shuttle lift off today

[Hauldren Collider]

That's not true, HC. Obama doesn't even want the restructured program. It's a creature of the congress. I hope that the restructured program is killed as soon as possible.

Well we all know how short sighted he is. Going to mars is probably stupid, but human spaceflight is something I think we need to continue to work on.

We've learned absurd amounts of stuff from the space program over the years. One of the Voyager probes is STILL making scientific discoveries. The cost of NASA is peanuts in the grand scheme of the federal budget.

[Lorizael]

Link! I refuse to believe this

xpost

http://appropriations.house.gov/News...umentID=250023

To be clear, this is not necessarily the end of JWST. But it sure doesn't look good.

[DanS]

And we will continue to work on it, no matter what happens to these stupid boondoggles.

[Jon Miller]

Information:

http://news.discovery.com/space/eroding-nasa-science-jwst-scrapped.html#mkcpgn=twnws1

To contact your representative:

http://aas.org/policy/contact.php

Note that it isn't the best run project, probably because of NASA, but still it is very important.

It shouldn't be scrapped, possible it should be given over to new people to run it though.

JM

[-Jrabbit]

I watched. Powerful stuff; that is one helluva machine. Made me a bit nostalgic; I was 15 when we landed on the moon.

I remain resentful that society has not fulfilled the promise of The Jetsons.
We were promised flying cars and vacations on the moon.
What we got: Segways and calving glaciers. :facepalm:

[Hauldren Collider]

That's your fault, Baby Boomer

[DanS]

We didn't get the Jetsons because the Shuttle was impossibly expensive, which reduced its utility drastically. That's just par for the course with a government program, of course.

[Hauldren Collider]

The shuttle is awesome and if you disagree you are stupid. Fact.

[DanS]

What are you, 12?

[rah]

We were promised flying cars and vacations on the moon.

This was also in today's tribune. No vacations but

http://www.geekosystem.com/terrafugia-approval/

Flying car company Terrafugia, whose website conveniently includes a pronunciation guide (say it with me: “Terra-FOO-gee-ah”), has announced that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has granted the company specific exceptions regarding their Transition vehicle. The Transition aims to fulfill the dream that we’ve been promised since the earliest days of prognostication: The flying car.

Unlike other projects like the Skycar, the Transition is meant to function as both a street-legal car and a light aircraft. The idea is that you could drive it from your home, right onto the airfield, and take off. But to balance the requirements of the stresses of flight, the Transition needed heavy duty tires and a heavy-duty polycarbonate windscreen. Both of these required special exemptions from the NHTSA, which Terrafugia has now secured.

For Terrafugia, receiving these exceptions is a great accomplishment but it is by no means the last hurdle for the Transition. The company still has some rounds of torturous safety testing ahead of it, and then the task of marketing and selling what is sure to be a pricey piece of luxury machinery. But who cares about that? Soon, we’ll live in a world where you buy a flying car, and that’s what’s most important here.

[-Jrabbit]

Promises promises...

[OneFootInTheGrave]

Not true. There are several American companies building spaceships to bring crew to ISS, the first of which probably will be available by around 2014. The first cargo spaceship will be available this year.

Constellation was a huge boondoggle and we're lucky it was killed.

will be interesting to watch how private enterprise manages to deliver on this

[Kuciwalker]

Well we all know how short sighted he is. Going to mars is probably stupid, but human spaceflight is something I think we need to continue to work on.

We've learned absurd amounts of stuff from the space program over the years. One of the Voyager probes is STILL making scientific discoveries. The cost of NASA is peanuts in the grand scheme of the federal budget.

And the benefits of NASA are peanuts compared to its cost.

[Kuciwalker]

HC's opinion on government spending is based on prejudice and sentiment rather than any kind of consistent reasoning. Who woulda thunk it?

[Pax]

Maybe the Europeans had it right when they gave companies charters to set up shop in foreign lands and the governments profited greatly and had the ability to take over if they wanted too.
I think that there are amazing opportunities in space and that the government giving up so much control releases the potential for amazing discoveries and uses. Hopefully space, will be an avenue that can help us solve our energy problems for instance.