Space Travel

LOL
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knarfeng said:
Mercy. THAT brings back memories. I hadn't though about Tom Swift Jr in decades. I read a pot load of those books when I was about 11-12.
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Danke42 said:
Ditto, Also Heinlin. Asimov, Clarke, And as many of those pulpy mags I could get my hands on.

Crazy how people in the 40s were so sure we'd have colonized Neptune by now.
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Me three! My dad had all the Tom Swift books...thanks for the memory:)
 
Travel is going from one destination to another; to the moon and back is Space Travel. What's being offered is Space Flight.

Still, it's amazing how in the past 40 years we've managed to lose the ability to travel to the moon (or elsewhere in the Solar System) and yet managed to make flight outside the Earths atmosphere possible for individuals who would never have managed to fit the criteria for the astronaut program as run by NASA.

I think it's a tremendous waste of Earths resources.
 
eisman said:
Travel is going from one destination to another; to the moon and back is Space Travel. What's being offered is Space Flight.

Still, it's amazing how in the past 40 years we've managed to lose the ability to travel to the moon (or elsewhere in the Solar System) and yet managed to make flight outside the Earths atmosphere possible for individuals who would never have managed to fit the criteria for the astronaut program as run by NASA.

I think it's a tremendous waste of Earths resources.
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We have now witness the beginning of the end for NASA, as the private sector begins to take over. Yesterdays launch was in many ways underwhelming however as a demonstration piece it has great promise. The 21th century equivalent to Kitty Hawk. I expect their system to grown into what the original concept was for the Space Shuttle, only this time on a safer more cost effective basis. The real game changer will come from Space X, which is positioning itself for deep space. There will be more to follow if the funds materialize. Space exploration and exploitation is where we will need to go to replenish scarce resources.

n2s
 
In January 1985, I flew on Virgin Atlantic's Boeing 747-287 "Maiden Voyage" G-VIRG from Newark to Gatwick.

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"Maiden Voyage" was configured for two-fare seating: the 48 first class passengers had five washrooms, and the other 404 in steerage had ten. Actually it was not a problem for me. This was an older Boeing retired from Aerolineas Argentinas and it didn't recirculate half the cabin air through a HEPA system. Everything we breathed was bled from the engines' compressor sections, run through air conditioners, and piped into the cabin at 12% humidity — as dry as the driest earthly dessert. I drank cans of seltzer all the way across the Atlantic and I didn't pee until I disembarked at Gatwick. By then I really had to go, but 40 to 1 on the washrooms was not as bad as it sounds.

If it wasn't for Richard Branson, I would not have lived in London, visited the Victory in Portsmouth, paid my respects to Karl Marx, Jenny von Westphalen and daughter Eleanor in Highgate Cemetery, eaten lunch at Jack Straw's Castle, or discovered fish & chips, steak & kidney pie, and all the other English junk food. I don't begrudge him his trip to outer space.

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If I had to chose between plutocrat overlords, better Richard Branson than Charles and David Koch.
 
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Bezos is an evil prick. I was hoping it would blowup.

Comparing his narcissistic performance to Kitty Hawk is an insult to the Wrights and every true aviation pioneer there was. Doubt it will last as long as the Concorde, but unlike the Concorde it might not last until its first crash.
 
Bezos spent 28 billion for a 10 minute flight that reached an altitude of 250,000 ft . Sixty years , Alan Shepard the first American in space, traveled 15 minutes and reached an altitude of 116.5 miles. No cowboy hat TV interview afterwards.
 
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Grew up in Florida in the 60s. Watched some of the Apollo launches in person . . . from a long distance away it seemed, LOL. Have been a huge NASA fan my whole life. Saw several shuttle lauches in person. Love, love, love space stuff.

Love Amazon, too.

Space + Amazon founder sounds good to me. God bless him - he deserves it.

BTW, when I was a kid "they" told us we would all be space travelers well before the year 2000. Not just billionaires. Colonies on the moon and Mars and maybe beyond. We were also supposed to have Jetson-mobiles by now. I feel ripped off. What happened? I have half a mind to seek out an original copy of "Future Shock" and see if the answer is in there.
 
The Simpsons must have a Crystal ball!
 

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The Amazing Virginian said:
Grew up in Florida in the 60s. Watched some of the Apollo launches in person . . . from a long distance away it seemed, LOL. Have been a huge NASA fan my whole life. Saw several shuttle lauches in person. Love, love, love space stuff.

Love Amazon, too.

Space + Amazon founder sounds good to me. God bless him - he deserves it.

BTW, when I was a kid "they" told us we would all be space travelers well before the year 2000. Not just billionaires. Colonies on the moon and Mars and maybe beyond. We were also supposed to have Jetson-mobiles by now. I feel ripped off. What happened? I have half a mind to seek out an original copy of "Future Shock" and see if the answer is in there.
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At least you can get a space force kabar.

So we must be getting close.
 
Honestly, it kind of disgusts me. Achieving space flight used to be something that entire nations came together and strived for. Now instead of nations, we have a few self-important, egomaniacs working towards it... And not because space flight has become exponentially cheaper, but rather because we have allowed a few billionaires to become as rich as nations. I just find it shameful, selfish, and gross.
 
Fixall said:
Honestly, it kind of disgusts me. Achieving space flight used to be something that entire nations came together and strived for. Now instead of nations, we have a few self-important, egomaniacs working towards it... And not because space flight has become exponentially cheaper, but rather because we have allowed a few billionaires to become as rich as nations. I just find it shameful, selfish, and gross.
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Trickle down effect though?
 
There is yet another billionaire-Jared Isaacman launch on the horizon in September. Jared is CEO of Shift4 an online payment company. There will be 3 civilians accompanying him on a space X crew Dragon spacecraft and named the mission Inspiration 4.
It’s going to be a 3 day trip to orbital space at an altitude higher than the international space station. Inspiration 4 is intended to raise funds and awareness for St. Jude Children’s Hospital and Research Center in Memphis, TN.
 
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