Space Shuttle Endeavour launches for the last time

[papa_smurf]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13415345

Even after seeing many launches on news etc, its still an amazing sight when a Shuttle launches.

[Jimbuna]

Thousands of people watched the launch, including Endeavour commander Mark Kelly's wife, Gabrielle Giffords, the politician shot by a gunman in January.


Even more so...

[AVGWarhawk]

The beginning to an end of an era in space. Glad Mrs. Gifford could make the launch.

[Oberon]

One more to go after this.

A sad, sad time for space travel.

[MH]

Sort of hard to believe that men actually landed on the moon.

(not in conspiracy theory sense)

[Lionclaw]

A link to NASA TV. :)

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

[TLAM Strike]

Sort of hard to believe that men actually landed on the moon.

(not in conspiracy theory sense)

Not too difficult when what most see as the best spacecraft in the world is a glorified glider.

Sad that the US is going to be out of the manned space business for a while but not sad to see the shuttle go.

The Soyuz: now that is a proper spacecraft, it could take you to the moon if you let it. Too bad Obama caned our version (Orion), he lost my vote when he did that.

[razark]

The Soyuz: now that is a proper spacecraft, it could take you to the moon if you let it.
Put a big enough fuel tank on it, and the shuttle could get to the moon. Neither one is going to be landing, though.

The shuttle was a craft designed to have certain capabilities, but never had a chance to develop most of those capabilities. Every spacecraft is built for a specific purpose. You can press it into other duties, but a custom designed craft is going to fit those roles better. The shuttle was designed as a general purpose spacecraft, which means it could do a lot of things half as well as any craft designed for those roles.

[Takeda Shingen]

One more to go after this.

A sad, sad time for space travel.

I have been a long-time critic of NASA and the US space program, but I will freely admit to feeling some sadness when watching the launch today. An era is indeed coming to a close.

[Jimbuna]

I have been a long-time critic of NASA and the US space program, but I will freely admit to feeling some sadness when watching the launch today. An era is indeed coming to a close.

Rgr that.

[Platapus]

Not too difficult when what most see as the best spacecraft in the world is a glorified glider.

Sad that the US is going to be out of the manned space business for a while but not sad to see the shuttle go.

The Soyuz: now that is a proper spacecraft, it could take you to the moon if you let it. Too bad Obama caned our version (Orion), he lost my vote when he did that.

But if Obama had plunked mega bucks in to the space program how many people would be on his butt for spending too much?

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

Personally, knowing that no matter what his decision some will be pissed at him, I am glad he chose the less expensive decision.

When the economy recovers, we will be in a much better position to reengage in manned space travel.

[TLAM Strike]

But if Obama had plunked mega bucks in to the space program how many people would be on his butt for spending too much? Megabucks? How much do you think they spend on NASA? The percent of the federal budget set aside for NASA is about whopping .6%. Back in the 1970's NASA was taking its budget and returning double with derivative technologies.

Personally, knowing that no matter what his decision some will be pissed at him, I am glad he chose the less expensive decision.

When the economy recovers, we will be in a much better position to reengage in manned space travel. Cheap things turn out to be expensive.

Worse case scenario is that when we go back in space there are Chinamen up there picking our dudes off with rail guns.

More likely scenario is that the Chinese stake a claim on a few Near Earth Asteroids with trillion(s) dollar deposits of rare metals. Think there is a trade deficit now? Imagine what it will be like when China can get gold for making computer parts for 1/10th the price.

[Falkirion]

My birthday is going to be tinged with sadness this year. Atlantis is scheduled to fly for the last time on it.

[Torplexed]

Must have been a short show. Twenty-five seconds to the cloud deck. :cool:

http://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/IMG_8277a_STS-134_Ken-Kremer-386x580.jpg

[Platapus]

Look on the bright side, we can let China pay for all the development costs and we can steal the technology from them for a change. :D

These days, my political attitude seems to revolve around the statement "we ain't got the money!"

I am a big space history buff, I love space technology and the exploration. But we ain't got the money to start some big expensive programs. Not saying that we will never have the money, but not just yet.

Also on the bright side, remember why we had a space race? Because there was someone to race. Remember how we got our butts handed to us at the start of the space race? Remember how that energized the entire nation? America does pretty well when first smacked down. We are pretty good at bouncing back :salute:

Maybe we need a good space opponent to get interest back in to it. Perhaps the Chinese would be a challenging opponent???

[Torplexed]

Maybe we need a good space opponent to get interest back in to it. Perhaps the Chinese would be a challenging opponent???

Hard to say All recent reports of planned Chinese manned moon missions are really based on mistranslations, misunderstandings, and wishful thinking. Recent presentations by Chinese space officials make clear that they won't even begin to study a moon mission until after they've successfully built a space station, which is at least a decade away. The current pace of the Chinese program doesn't really point to a concerted effort to put a man on the moon anytime soon. And since we've already been there I'm not sure it'd get us that excited anyway.

[FIREWALL]

Instead of being so negitive we might want to think of partnering up with China in a joint Spacecraft.

[Torplexed]

Instead of being so negitive we might want to think of partnering up with China in a joint Spacecraft.

The potential for having our technology ripped off and intellectual property rights tramped on are too great, along with the political ramifications. I still remember the reaming the Clinton administration got in Congress over the Chinese acquiring some sensitive satellite technology in a joint venture.

[TLAM Strike]

Instead of being so negitive we might want to think of partnering up with China in a joint Spacecraft.
Since China's space program has a distinct military twist I doubt that is going to happen.

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/3518/chinaspaceplane1.jpg
^If you can't tell that's slung under the belly of a Badger bomber. If it has PLAAF written anywhere on it, I don't trust it.

Not too long I suspect before our two X-37Bs make way for production run FQ-37Cs. At least the USAF is keeping up with space developments.

[Falkirion]

Its more important than ever that NASA and USAF keep pace with space tech since China's predicted to take over the mantle of worlds largest economy within the next 15 years. And while I think that communism is a nice system in theory and only theory. China's a bit more totalitarian than I'd like.

[papa_smurf]

Instead of being so negitive we might want to think of partnering up with China in a joint Spacecraft.

ESA and NASA are looking at potentially working together to turn the ATV supply ship into a crew transport ship.