Thank you, Space Shuttle Discovery, for all you have done to advance

[Thunderstruck]

human understanding and exploration of space.

You did good and I, for one, will miss you.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I loved watching the shuttle launches. I'll miss them too.

[Baclava]

15. Still two flights left

Endeavour is currently set to launch April 19, getting ready now.



The shuttle Atlantis will follow on June 28 - the last scheduled mission

[el_bryanto]

2. It is sad and short sighted; but I suppose our generation is good at sad and short sighted

Bryant

[HopeHoops]

3. Fuck. I'm actually crying. I video taped and did a report on the first shuttle launch.

My girlfriend's mother had a VCR with a remote - on a fucking cord. Panasonic, I think. I taped Howdy Doodie Kopple for the entire pre/post launch period, put all of the quotes into SuperText on an Apple II, printed them out on an Epson 9-pin printer, and then cut/pasted (manually) them into a report which I then typed into SuperText (cutting/pasting the quotes electronically) and printed out on that same Epson. I didn't sleep for weeks. Coffee was my god.

[NillaWafers]

4. What a sickening shame. Jay Barbree was in tears.

The death of hope and exploration and dreaming of other worlds.

[LunaSea]

6. The death of hope and exploration?

We're retiring some vehicles, not our ambitions.

We're not just dreaming of other worlds, we're focusing in on them.
Check out the multiple planet systems discovered by telescope Kepler as of 2.2.2011-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRJ30fkyiU4&feature=player_embedded#at=38

Did you miss the Cassini spacecrafts' visit to Saturn?

There are a wide variety of vehicles in the works, and they are not as far away as you may think.
Americas' space exploration isn't over, but it will look different than you've imagined.



Welcome home Discovery, and we thank you!

[NillaWafers]

11. Obama knifed you guys in the back, Do you agree?

[LunaSea]

12. No, not at all.

Despite some lunar hardware projects I was associated with getting the axe, I support the Presidents space policy.

Nixon and Carter did more damage to our space effort in scaling back our capacity by canceling the Saturn booster, and cutting the shuttles design in half to go with cheaper solid rockets as well as eliminating the shuttles destination altogether.

Flag and footprint missions may make us feel good, but don't open up the inner solar system to human activity.

More often, the knives come from average Americans, who don't understand the long-term value of space exploration.

[NillaWafers]

17. What is Obama's space policy?

[LunaSea]

19. Obama's space policy is

Right here=

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/national_space_policy_6-28-10.pdf

[NillaWafers]

Dupe.

[NillaWafers]

20. While I appreciate the little Blue Link....I would be more enlightened if you broke it down for me.

Please. Tell me what Obama's Space Program consists of.

Really. I am sincere in hearing a human response to this question because all I have heard from him is mumbled prevaricating and I KNOW that he is officially persona non grata around Nasa/Clear Lake and Kemah.

Translate what Obama's space goals are.

Please.

[1776Forever]

5. We all knew this day would come but I don't think a lot of people realize the reality that this

means to the United States Space Program. It should have been able to progress and not regress. China is now in line to take over and this is going to mean that we depend on Russian space vehicles for the near future. While the non-manned "baby shuttle" goes on there is only private Space Flight companies now. It is all about Privatization! They won!

[Shagbark Hickory]

7. What the space program was really about: ENERGY and finding it sources of it elsewhere.

As a communist, it's rare that I think something ought to be privatized or left to the private sector but this is one instance where we should pass the baton over to the Chinese or Virgin Airways or Exxon or whoever else wants to deal with it. It's an area we can save a substancial amount.

We don't need to beat China at everything. Let them do some explation, mkay?

Or maybe we can let Sweden send a volvo space rocket into the great unknown.
Or Switzerland. Or the Bahamas.

[Thunderstruck]

8. Could you explain how the space program was really about finding energy? Thanks.

[Shagbark Hickory]

9. I can...

but instead of me explaining it to you, I am going to direct you to a wikipedia article on Helium 3.

If you don't want to read the whole article, thats fine, just read the introduction (first few paragraphs) and scroll to "power generation".

Then you can make up your own mind or seek more information on what space exploration was mostly for.

[dizbukhapeter]

10. There is still some small hope with Constellation

The space shuttle was a good machine but it was limited to low earth orbit. I'd love to see vehicles that can go farther out.

[LunaSea]

13. Agreed

I'm wary of Ares, being old enough to remember Von Brauns admonition against building "long, skinny rockets" as they tend to get torn apart in the upper atmosphere.

I am a big fan of the "On Orbit Construction" concept for building interplanetary vehicles.
Here's an example of one that could be built with off-the-shelf technology and lofted with existing launchers-

warning- large graphics-

http://www.aeromancy.us/Pages/SETV50kWposter.html
http://www.aeromancy.us/Pages/SETV500kWposter.html

Not as elegant as a rocketship, using ion thrusters with propulsion best measured in "bugfarts", these platforms could open up a lot of possibilities.

[pokerfan]

18. I wish we would have continued with Nova

http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/nova.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_%28rocket%29

[Baclava]

14. Don't forget it was Discovery that carried the Hubble Space Telescope to orbit too

Thanks!


Whirlpool Galaxy M51/NGC 5194


Ultra Deep field - billions and billions of galaxies


Edge of the universe - back 12 billion years

[Blue_Tires]

16. Great childhood memories...I'll miss it as well, but

The shuttle has had its day and it is time for NASA to take this knowledge and bring some new vehicles to the forefront...:web: