Space Shuttle Atlantis Mission #135, the final mission. Goodbye Space Shuttle.

[Scrapheap]

I feel there will be some sort of crisis and the US will have to get back into the business of launching people and then it will be a game of catch up and we will end up spending twice as much as we would have if we had not given it up.  

IIRC, there was a proposal for a new rocket to launch people and payloads into orbit that had a higher capacity than the space shuttle. 

[Queen Victoria]

I'm possibly the only one here who can recall sitting in the living room listening to the static, trying to make out words, from the first American in space, Alan Shepard.  Intense, scary moments.

[Parts]

I feel there will be some sort of crisis and the US will have to get back into the business of launching people and then it will be a game of catch up and we will end up spending twice as much as we would have if we had not given it up.  

IIRC, there was a proposal for a new rocket to launch people and payloads into orbit that had a higher capacity than the space shuttle. 

There was for the whole moon/mars mission.  What they need to do is go cheep and dirty,  we need a Chevy not a Cadillac which is what we always end up with. Also something not designed by a committee.  Just wish they would do something it was the part of my taxes I didn't mind paying 

[Scrapheap]

I'm possibly the only one here who can recall sitting in the living room listening to the static, trying to make out words, from the first American in space, Alan Shepard.  Intense, scary moments.

There's home movies of my older brother taking his very first steps just before his first birthday, with the TV in the background showing Neil Armstrong taking his first steps on the moon.

[Jesse]

it was a waste of money. didnt it cost 10k just to send a pound into space? i'm all for sending satallites to take awesome pictures though

[odeon]

It's not a waste of money, quite the opposite.

['andersom']

I'm possibly the only one here who can recall sitting in the living room listening to the static, trying to make out words, from the first American in space, Alan Shepard.  Intense, scary moments.

There's home movies of my older brother taking his very first steps just before his first birthday, with the TV in the background showing Neil Armstrong taking his first steps on the moon.

That's just cute. 

[The_Chosen_One]

First we had Yaeger trying to break the siound barrier. Then NASA was formed several years later to get people into space. The Russians beat the Americans with Sputnik in '57., Then they tried to launch a dog (Misha) and a monkey. Then Shepherd had his launch in 1961, and Gagarin went into orbit in the same year. Glenn went into orbit again in '62, and kennedy promised there would be a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Armstrong and Aldrin landed in '69, and there were 6 successful landings up to '72. There was also the accident with Grissom, Chaffey and White in '67, and the Salyut in '71. Then we had Skylab in '73, the first shuttle launch off the back of a jumbo in '77 or '78, and Mir from '86 onwards. There was the Challenger disaster in '86, and the Columbia in '03 or '04. Now we have the International Space Station, and there were proposed missions to mars and beyond. Now they pull the pin on the shuttle, and it's left for others to fill the gaps.

Soon the only space travel will be from one side of the room to the other.

[Jesse]

Thanks for that rundown on the space shuttles history. first we had, a bowl of a huge plate of food at 4am washed it down with a coke. then two hours later at 6am I had 4 eggs, half a pound of bacon and 6 pieces of toast. then at 9am one of my rocket boosters was acting up so I had a candy bar. At 12pm i had 3 hamburgers, hashbrowns, and jello. then after a refueling of hoglantis at 3pm, we were clear for takeoff back to my T.V. dinner and then i went to bed.

 but before i did, i ate my fucking space suit

[renaeden]

^

But I am glad Steve-O did that because I don't know much about it. I have always wished for a Star Trek future. I think it is really important that some sort of space program keeps going because we will need somewhere else to go - this planet won't last forever. Plus isn't there some sort of basic curiosity that spurs people on? We don't know what is out there. I hope some country gets serious about space travel.

[odeon]

A Star Trek future, right now, doesn't seem likely.

[Osensitive1]

That's back when the US still had money and wasn't too deep in debt.  

That's only what the government wants the public to think. Not sure why the current administration deemed it so important to cut NASA's budget, or what benifit it would enact. There's a graph out there for the US budget; can hunt it down if you'd like. NASA is such a tiny sliver of that graph. There's plenty of money for NASA.

[midlifeaspie]

The last story I read said that they expected the commercial flights that would take over for the space shuttle to begin launching before the end of the year.  I said the same thing ... "WHAT?".  It obviously isn't Branson.  I'm guessing that these commercial replacement flights are A) not going to be manned and B) are not by an American company - both of which explain why we haven't heard much about their development.  I assume all personnel transfers will have to take place on a Soyuz.

It is the end of an era, but 30 years of low-earth orbit has taught us about everything it can.  NASA will now take their budget, energy and expertise and focus on first landing people on an asteroid and then landing people on Mars.  You have to eventually move on to the next thing, and using the US space program as expensive moving men just isn't it.

[Scrapheap]

That's back when the US still had money and wasn't too deep in debt.  

That's only what the government wants the public to think. Not sure why the current administration deemed it so important to cut NASA's budget, or what benifit it would enact. There's a graph out there for the US budget; can hunt it down if you'd like. NASA is such a tiny sliver of that graph. There's plenty of money for NASA.

Keep in mind that you're looking at propoganda from the "Ministry of Plenty". 

[Osensitive1]

Why the eye roll? If the government can spend as much on the war as on either social security or education, can't see what effect cutting the NASA budget has on anything. The US can afford a well funded space program. It's not even one percent of the national budget.