So, Am I a bad American/person for not giving a damn about the Space Shuttle or the Space Program in general?

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The news channels are all over it like it's life-changing stuff...and maybe it was, once upon a time.....but in these troubled times, don't we have bigger fuckin' fish to fry?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 29 July 2005 04:40 (twenty years ago)

That sounds like spreading fear and despondency to me; pack him off to Guantanamo Bay.

― Ed (dali), Friday, 29 July 2005 04:47 (twenty years ago)

it does take airtime away from tales of missing white women

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Friday, 29 July 2005 04:50 (twenty years ago)

Well, we've got to get off this rock somehow...

― Mike Stuchbery (Mike Stuchbery), Friday, 29 July 2005 04:51 (twenty years ago)

i enjoy reading about the space program of the PAST - "the right stuff" and all that - but today's space program doesn't interest me much. maybe if we ever go to mars or have to fight off an invasion i'll change my mind.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Friday, 29 July 2005 04:51 (twenty years ago)

I shouldn't worry about the US space programme. china will be doing it cheaper and better within a very few years So we can watch them instead.

― Ed (dali), Friday, 29 July 2005 04:56 (twenty years ago)

http://lnx.beetlebethlehem.it/blogs/bbn40/images/cap_one.gif

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 29 July 2005 05:00 (twenty years ago)

my reaction whenever i hear about a new u.s. space mission is "again??? didn't they just do something last week?"

― club soda (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 29 July 2005 09:15 (twenty years ago)

they don't have to try out every idea that pops into their geeky ickle heads.

― club soda (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 29 July 2005 09:17 (twenty years ago)

Thing is, the US space mission is militaristic in its aim, rather than scientific. Bush is still clinging to ridiculous Star Wars ideas. The European Space Agency is thoroughly miffed at this and doesn't appreciate NASA jumping aboard the International Space Station to play Space Invaders rather than do some worthwhile research into the origins of the universe.
So you're quite right to be cynical.

― Stew (stew s), Friday, 29 July 2005 09:27 (twenty years ago)

do some worthwhile research into the origins of the universe.

b-b-but there is no origin to the universe! god just invented it one day, fully loaded (like herbie).

― club soda (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 29 July 2005 09:48 (twenty years ago)

Depends on which space program you're talking about. NASA's manned program has been treading water for so many years that the program now is like a classic car show - lots of people talking about the good old days, keeping old equipment running, and every so often getting together for some reason or another like cruising old Route 66 in low earth orbit or something.

The unmanned program out of JPL is fucking fantastic and I'll challenge anyone who says otherwise.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Friday, 29 July 2005 18:24 (twenty years ago)

I'm also much more excited by news items like this anyway. They'll probably have an entire space program up and running in the time it takes NASA to figure out what type of glue they need to keep the foam on.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Friday, 29 July 2005 18:31 (twenty years ago)

yeah, our probe droid program has been cooking along just fine.

but still, we need to get off this fucking rock.

― kingfish (Kingfish), Friday, 29 July 2005 18:44 (twenty years ago)

My sister tried to get off the rock several times, it's not easy.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 29 July 2005 19:13 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, fair enough. I take back my slightly sweeping condemnation of NASA, cos this business with the ice water on Mars and tenth planet is amazing. And I suppose it's not NASA's fault that Republican politicians want to pursue ridiculous military programmes in space.

― Stew (stew s), Saturday, 30 July 2005 12:13 (twenty years ago)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050731/ap_on_sc/space_shuttle

"It's about like pizza dough, like licorice-flavored pizza dough," Robinson said as the near-black filler material oozed from his high-tech caulking gun. He used a putty knife to smooth down the substance, again and again.

― kingfish (Kingfish), Sunday, 31 July 2005 06:53 (twenty years ago)

I think finding out the effects of weightlessness on tiny screws is important.

― Draw Tipsy, ya hack. (dave225.3), Sunday, 31 July 2005 10:14 (twenty years ago)

USA robotic probe space program == grebt stuff.
USA manned space program == my elbow.

― Aimless (Aimless), Sunday, 31 July 2005 13:39 (twenty years ago)

the future of the space program

http://www.af.lu.se/foreningar/kamereren/tyskland1999/bilder/Pigs_in_space.gif

the space program would be a lot more interesting if the Bush admin hadn't killed a lot of the cool post-shuttle stuff, like the X-33

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Sunday, 31 July 2005 15:01 (twenty years ago)

gabbneb: OTM.

― StanM (StanM), Sunday, 31 July 2005 15:10 (twenty years ago)

Aimless OTM. It's a shame the techie side isn't fascinating enough for a lot of people.

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 31 July 2005 15:13 (twenty years ago)

The manned program is an aerospace jobs program. It is the New Deal of SCIENCE.

― I'm Hi, Jared Fogle (ex machina), Sunday, 31 July 2005 15:15 (twenty years ago)

The only thing that sucks about manned private spacecraft is that orbital flight is a long, long, long time away. The whole atmosphere destroying asteroids and letting is breathe thing is such a double edged sword.

― Alan Conceicao (Alan Conceicao), Sunday, 31 July 2005 19:27 (twenty years ago)

The whole atmosphere destroying asteroids and letting is breathe thing is such a double edged sword.

I am having trouble groking this.

― I'm Hi, Jared Fogle (ex machina), Sunday, 31 July 2005 19:32 (twenty years ago)

Alex, if yr not excited to see if this one will blow up you must hate liberty.

― sunny successor (he hates my guts, we had a fight) (katharine), Monday, 1 August 2005 00:49 (twenty years ago)

The BBC are showing live footage of the space walk from the cameras inside the astronauts helmets.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 10:12 (twenty years ago)

to follow along with what jon said, yeah, it's been mentioned several times over the years that LBJ thought NASA was pretty much applying the Marshall Plan to the South...

― kingfish (Kingfish), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 13:49 (twenty years ago)

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