Americans losing site of Space Goals

This article is truly sad...With all the great accomplishments that our grandfathers, fathers, or Greatgrandfathers, had done in the 60's and now our generation is dropping the ball so to speak...here is the article it speaks for itself...www.msnbc.msn.com...
Lets pull together and accomplish the great things that our generations ahead of us started...Its truly important for us not to lose site


Good Day
Skept!cal

haha guess we really are losing interest in the space program based on the views of this thread lol


Good Day
Skept!cal

I see this as a natural division. Space isn't for everybody. It can't be a fad, and last. Those who go on to explore space will not come from the ranks of the lukewarm.

When the Americas were the hot topic in Europe, many thought it foolishness, that nothing could come of it. Funding for exploration even then was hard to come by. Exploration just for the sake of exploration will always be low on the list of priorities of most people, and most governments.

Ah, but need and greed have a way of always driving the great engine of expansion. The original American colonies were not started for exploration, but for a perceived need to escape. California was not "settled up" in the mid 1800s by people wanting to explore, but by those wanting to gain. And in these two examples, there were many more naysayers than those who embraced the ideas.

Space exploration and colonization will come for just the same reasons. It will be a haphazard ragtag affair, fraught with personal peril and much misfortune. But it is the way of our species. I myself read nothing more into this than an echoing of those who labeled the central portion of America a desert, thereby saying it wasn't worth the effort of settling, or Seward's Folly, which has since come to seem a stroke of genius.

Where governments falter, individuals and business will step in. The results will be greater because the risk and reward factor will not be examined by politicians, but rather by dreamers and the downtrodden of Earth.

Great post...couldnt agree more..But i just dont understand why our generation seems to be laggin in the interest in this field...Space is a necessity something that we will eventually HAVE to deal w/...Just such a shame to see the work of our fathers of past not gone to waste, but come to a halt...they did and made exceptional things...its almost as if Europe has become the Americans of the 60's now...They seem to be taking space exploration a lot more serious and there budget shows

Good Day
Skept!cal

is their any hope? Comments everyone...lets show that we ARE interested in this! Important indeed


Good Day
Skept!cal

I kind of diagree that people are losing interest in space...just look at what is going on now with the moon landing x prize, and other countries with their own developing space programs. Maybe I'm nearsighted as I've always been facinated with everything to do with space, but I'm excited about what is to come in my lifetime.

It's because all the money is going to wars that should have ended quite a long time ago. I mean, the troops need the money as long as they're in Iraq, but the war was supposed to last how long? A few months to two years? Billions of dollars are going into this war and the end still isn't exactly in sight! If it weren't for the damned war, then space exploration would be in a much better funding situation.

[edit on 8-4-2008 by GrayFox]

reply to post by sensfan


I couldnt be more intune w/ what your saying, but problem is that most ppl really could care less about space programs here...Im w/ ya im completely interested in the subject for i think its absolutely important for us as a human race to be space faring species for our own good...One day we will need to leave this beautiful blue marble, and venture out past the stars, but times have changed from the Apollo days..Intrests from the general public just arent there quite sad really

Good Day
Skept!cal

reply to post by GrayFox


Agreed...So i guess a good question now would be...What on earth can we do to get the Space program going again and build momentum of interest in the general public...I mean what would it take to get the American public interest back to the stars?...People are just too tied into there own lives right now w/ a quote on quote Recession about to happen...I just think too many ppl are concerned w/ whats going on in their everyday lives to worry about the stars...We need something spectacular to gain interest...I think some sort of new technology revealed would maybe do it...I dont know got any ideas?

Good Day
Skept!cal

Ah...but most of the fun was getting there! Beginning in 1957 with the launch of Sputnik, then later Mercury, Apollo missions...orbiting the earth, spaceflight, walking on the moon, it was achievable. Kind of like, ok, we're here....now what?

I just think that some (and I am NOT speaking for myself) are bored with the 'silly science experiments' and additions to the iss and they no longer see an end result. I believe that for many, a manned mission to Mars seems unreachable and unobtainable and another manned mission to the moon seems pointless. Again, this is not how I, for one, feel but is just some feedback I've received from others.

reply to post by hsur2112


Great insight...really enjoyed your thoughts thank you

reply to post by skept!cal


Hey skept!cal. Well, I feel like my last post was, hmmm...depressing and really did nothing to add prospective to your concerns, so for that, I apologize.

I wouldn't be too discouraged. I am sure that they ran into planty of problems (mechanical, funding, etc.) with the current ss fleet. I think that they will find a way regardless, and as NGC2736 implied, it may well come down to public and/or corporate support. But the U.S. government is just as greedy for bragging rights. They are not going to let Europe and China have all the fun.

So here are a few things that I hope will help you see that there is still plenty out there to encouraged about.

Lunar Interest

Lunar Science Community Needs Rebuilding, Researchers Say

NASA's plan to return to the Moon - first by robotic missions scheduled to start this year, followed by the replanting of human footprints there by 2020 - will require a new cadre of lunar research and exploration specialists.

And scientists are enthusiastic about the prospect. Many of those who attended the recent Lunar and Planetary Science Conference March 10-14 in League City, Texas, said Earth's closest celestial neighbor is far from being a "been there, done that world" that offers no unknowns worth solving. And several sessions dedicated to lunar science clearly showed a rebound of interest in the Moon.

~article~

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is the first mission in NASA's Vision for Space Exploration, a plan to return to the moon and then to travel to Mars and beyond. LRO will launch in late 2008 with the objectives to finding safe landing sites, locate potential resources, characterize the radiation environment, and demonstrate new technology.

~article~


GLAST

Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST)

NASA's GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the U.S. Launch of the GLAST satellite is currently scheduled for no earlier than May 16, 2008 from Cape Canaveral Air Station, located on the eastern coast of Florida.

~article~


Phoenix Mars Lander

NASA Spacecraft Fine Tunes Course for Mars Landing

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA engineers have adjusted the flight path of the Phoenix Mars Lander, setting the spacecraft on course for its May 25 landing on the Red Planet.

~article~


Cassini

NASA Extends Cassini Probe's Mission at Saturn

The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft's mission at Saturn has been extended by two years, NASA announced today, allowing the plucky probe to continue scouting the planet and its exotic medley of moons.

~article~


Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4

NASA has selected a crew for the upcoming servicing, and the astronauts are currently training. The mission is scheduled for August 28, 2008.

SM4 has an ambitious program of activities and three main objectives.

The first objective is to extend Hubble's operational life by at least five years.

The second objective is to enhance Hubble's scientific power.

The third objective is to repair Hubble's out-of-commission instruments, the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS).

~article~


And this was released from NASA today regarding the Orion:

NASA Completes First Full-Scale Motor Test for Orion Spacecraft

WASHINGTON -- NASA has completed the first full-scale rocket motor test for the Constellation Program's Orion spacecraft, a test of a solid rocket that will be used to jettison the craft's launch abort system.

~see full release~


Anyway, I think that it is fairly safe to say that there is still quite a bit of interest out there.

I tend to agree w/ you...I do believe that if Nasa and other government organizations dont pick up the bill it will be mainly corprate america doing so...There is way too much money to be made up in space and you can count on Corprate america not letting that go to waste...I guess my main concern is just the lacksidazical attitude that we americans have about space...Its just way too important for us not to explore and go further into the depths of space...One day this beautiful blue marble will be out of resources and be ready for us to leave...America has usually been the ones to say ok were gonna spear head this project...But w/ all the debt that we are incurring w/ unecssary wars, and such we will be left behind...And that saddens me ...Hopefully we can get to the exploring like the days of our past generations, and get down to some serious discoveries...I guess time will tell w/ this tale

Good Day
Skept!cal

surely there are plenty of american's on ATS that are interested in Space Travel...I want Idea's that people think would help revive our outlook on space and generate the interest that past generations have had...Come on America speak up (and if not american, of course we would love your oppinons on the subject as well)

Good Day
Skept!cal

Originally posted by skept!cal
Great post...couldnt agree more..But i just dont understand why our generation seems to be laggin in the interest in this field...

If your speaking of our generation of say the last 30 years, thats because our education system isnt where it should be. In the East, school kids there are doing algebra in what we consider the 3rd and 4th grade. They have a sense of honor about doing well in school. Here, in the US, mediocrity is the norm. Our emphasis on math and sciences are no where near where they are in Japan, for example. I include myself in this group where I failed in mathematics but excelled in sciences. In my senior year of HS, I was barely taking geometry, a 9th grade course and did okay, but taking physics, which was of course, a standard 12th grade course and did great. I had/have no interest in mathematics and took the easy route through high school. Now I am paying the price in my college math courses.

Simply, more funding needs to go to our schools and into making our kids intelligent learners, not just dummies that memorize answers.