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#1 2002-10-31 11:56:59
- Ranger_2833
- Banned
- From: My secret bunker in Wyoming (o
- Registered: 2002-09-12
- Posts: 55
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Re: NASA getting on track? - Is NASA finally pulling their heads out?
Could it be that NASA's new administration has a clue what to do?
NASA Deputy Chief: 'We're Leaving Low Earth Orbit'
Can it be that after all these years NASA has a plan? Are they going to finally go somewhere (yes, I know they've gone lots of places, but not with much drive or frequency)? Or is it all just more empty promises from a long dead agency trying to justify its budget?
???
Post your thoughts.
Just another American pissed off with the morons in charge...
Motto: Ex logicus, intellegentia... Ex intellegentia, veritas.
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#2 2002-10-31 13:29:45
- turbo
- Banned
- From: Jacksonville, Florida
- Registered: 2002-08-01
- Posts: 76
Re: NASA getting on track? - Is NASA finally pulling their heads out?
NASA = Not Aspiring to Space Accountants
Does this mean the 2001 Lander is going to get launched? Hey, maybe the old Viking mock up sitting around Kennedy will get to circle the Moon.
Tell ya what, Columbia is getting too old, fill the cargo bay with bottled water and munchies and I'll set that puppy down right in the middle of Cydonia.
My Ford van will leave LEO before NASA does!
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#3 2002-10-31 18:43:14
- Phobos
- Member
- Registered: 2002-01-02
- Posts: 1,103
Re: NASA getting on track? - Is NASA finally pulling their heads out?
Can it be that after all these years NASA has a plan? Are they going to finally go somewhere (yes, I know they've gone lots of places, but not with much drive or frequency)? Or is it all just more empty promises from a long dead agency trying to justify its budget?
It seems like NASA has finally gotten a clue that it's mission should involve more than just routine manned flights to low earth orbit. I think NASA is finally getting its old vision back of pushing the envelope and developing radical new technology and missions that will take us where we haven't before. They seem to be putting a lot of emphasis on their programs which develop and brainstorm on experimental technology. I especially loved that anti-matter sail concept that was mentioned at Space.com. That's the kinda stuff NASA should be working on. I have to be honest though, I'm starting to develop a lot more interest in what the private sector is doing in the realm of spaceflight, especially when it comes to getting people out of Earth's atmosphere. I know I'll never be able to go into space via NASA, but a private company might be willing to wheel and deal. 
My Ford van will leave LEO before NASA does!
LOL! Would that be an Astrovan by any chance? 
To achieve the impossible you must attempt the absurd
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#4 2002-11-01 07:34:39
- TJohn
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- Registered: 2002-08-06
- Posts: 149
Re: NASA getting on track? - Is NASA finally pulling their heads out?
I just hope that it's not just a publicity stunt. But, it is good to see that NASA is showing more emphasis on missions other than the ISS and Space shuttle. NASA still needs to push for the nuclear propulsion research. Damn the "Greenies"!
One day...we will get to Mars and the rest of the galaxy!! Hopefully it will be by Nuclear power!!!
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#5 2002-11-01 19:40:38
- Shaun Barrett
- Member
- From: Cairns, Queensland, Australia
- Registered: 2001-12-28
- Posts: 2,843
Re: NASA getting on track? - Is NASA finally pulling their heads out?
Maybe it's simply dawning on NASA that public opinion is moving against them because of the LEO 'ho-hum' effect.
There is a famous saying, whose author I can't recall now, which goes: "The prospect of imminent death concentrates the mind wonderfully."
A mood of 'maybe we better shape up before we get shipped out' might be developing in the NASA corridors of power.
We can only hope! ???
The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down. - Rita Rudner
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#6 2002-11-01 21:08:24
- Phobos
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- Registered: 2002-01-02
- Posts: 1,103
Re: NASA getting on track? - Is NASA finally pulling their heads out?
Hey Shaun I think you might be right. NASA is seen by a lot of people as a "do nothing" type organization that just maintains satellites, loses probes, and generally breaks budgets. I think this new bout of apparent interest in getting beyond LEO is legit though. I say that because NASA seems to be focusing on goals that don't sound impossible. There's no mention of 3 trillion dollar missions or other lofty and impossible goals. They seem to be going in discrete and attainable steps, i.e. build a station at the libration points, then move to the Moon, etc.. Yep, I think we should keep holding the axe over their heads to keep them motivated.
I just hope that it's not just a publicity stunt. But, it is good to see that NASA is showing more emphasis on missions other than the ISS and Space shuttle. NASA still needs to push for the nuclear propulsion research. Damn the "Greenies"!
Amen! anti-nuke activists be damned! 
To achieve the impossible you must attempt the absurd
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