NASA's successor to space shuttle program unveiled--NOT!

Wait a minute! But read this from the NY Post first:

"WASHINGTON -- NASA unveiled the successor to its retired space shuttle program Wednesday when it released designs for a supersized rocket that can send astronauts deep into space.
NASA said the new Space Launch System will take US astronauts on missions to an asteroid and to Mars over the next two decades.
The 30-year-old shuttle program ended in July with the final mission of space shuttle Atlantis, following budget cutbacks in Washington.
The new program will cost about $35 billion, according to officials in the Obama administration, and will start test launching in six years.
The liquid-fueled rocket will be closer in design to the Apollo spacecraft -- which carried out moon landings in the 60s and 70s -- than the retired space shuttles, which were winged and reusable.
It will be more than 30 stories tall and will carry astronauts in a capsule on top.
Following an unmanned test flight in 2017, the first crewed flight is due to take off in 2021, followed by a mission to Mars in the 2030s.
At a Washington news conference alongside senior members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, NASA administrator Charles Bolden said, "This launch system will create good-paying American jobs, ensure continued US leadership in space, and inspire millions around the world."
"President Obama challenged us to be bold and dream big, and that's exactly what we are doing at NASA," he added. "While I was proud to fly on the space shuttle, tomorrow's explorers will now dream of one day walking on Mars."
Obama administration officials said the development program would cost about $3 billion per year, which is similar to the amount NASA spent on the space shuttle program in 2009.
A senior administration official called the new program "very ambitious," adding, "This will ensure that the United States remains the world leader in space."

...So what about the folks up there in the ISS? I wonder how they feel? We are a "world leader in space" and don't have the means to reach our own people in low Earth orbit? This is ludicrous!

NASA yammers about a deep space rocket and stupidly talks about it as a vehicle for Mars' missions pushing a mere "capsle" for what must be considered a two-year journey! Rather cramped quarters we can surmise, and by a chemical rocket no less. It is twisted logic to call the new program a "successor" to the shuttle. That is like calling the airplane the successor to the horse.

So on at least two points, we can see this announcement is hogwash. They got caught with their pants down, phasing out the shuttle on schedule--well, slightly beyond--while not admiting to the triangles yet. (An election surprise?) So they had to say something to the sheeple. Except, they over shot what should be their immediate target, the caretaking of the ISS, and are telling us they are aiming for Mars a few years down the road. That still leaves us with no decent, manned system for retrieving the ISS crew let alone servicing that craft (if you believe what they tell us).

The reason for this grand new rocket is, of course, exactly what was announced in the above article, jobs for the aerospace industry. The big boys will fare nicely from that new surge, but many thousands of subcontractors across the country will benefit from this new endeavor as well. The key to economic recover is usually war. We can look at this NASA plan as somewhat of an alternative to weapons production or for ditch-digging for helping to produce jobs to aid the recovery that we desperately need. Plus, such talk and expenditures will keep other countries from surging ahead if only in the space race that we are allowed to comprehend.

As for the folks in the ISS, I'm sure that they have been assured that they can be recovered within a few hours if the need arises. Surely, they witness the triangles at various times as they break atmosphere to move on out to the Moon if not Mars.

Can you can't discern what is science fiction and what is science fact by what your government tells you?

when i read the title i got excited thinking maybe the russians announced some new spacecraft they are building.
*sigh
only more nasa crap. oh well.

Saw the "new" space vehicle and its description at Kennedy Space center a couple months back. I'm just a layman but it looked and sounded like a 21st century version of the Saturn/Gemini rockets of the early space program. Like what the Russians use. Not exactly cutting edge stuff as far as space exploration goes.

I was expecting it to look like the Millennium Falcon.

I have seen this, not very sc fi,is it? where is Buck's starfighter ?

Wow... Something is seriously wrong when you go from shooting up bottle rockets, to shooting up Shuttles and then back to bottle rockets and make claims that it will keep us ahead in the space race.

Question...

How the heck is a capsule going to get back to Earth from Mars or an asteroid?

Now take 2 steps forward, and then 3 steps back...

Originally posted by Aliensun
"ensure continued US leadership in space, and inspire millions around the world."

Is it still Cold War? Is this what this is about? Enlarging your (you know what)? In a time of globalization, when it comes to space, we should not be dividing discoveries into 'Our nation is leading it', we should be WHOLE, and talk as a whole. I'm sure people all over the world have contributed how ARROGANT.

Galactic federations and such may be a joke, but it's high time people start thinking as Humans/Terrans and not as 'US leadership in space'. At least what believers in the good aliens that tell us to raise our concscious are right - we'd better act as a human race, forget the nation, race, religion if some use it to support themselves spiritually, and act as one race.

I'm sure if any of these stories were true about such aliens, they really live together as a whole. Some people are still thinking like animals, not like anything superior. Such fools should be out of NASA or any space program.

"Get to Mars by 2030" = A load of crap.

*SNIP!* NASA!

By 2030 the private industry will be offering vacation flights to Mars. They'll wave to NASA astronauts on the way as they pass them in space. O.K. Maybe not,... but it seems to be getting to that point with companies already aiming for the moon.

reply to post by ThinkingCap


All these UFOs, like some or most of them are human, gawd knows how many travels they've made in space in no time to any place in our solar system, but for the masses landing on mars - 2030. Not saying they have landed but I suspect they could've made some missions they didn't reveal to public duh

The liquid-fueled rocket will be closer in design to the Apollo spacecraft -- which carried out moon landings in the 60s and 70s -- than the retired space shuttles, which were winged and reusable. It will be more than 30 stories tall and will carry astronauts in a capsule on top.

I am surprised they are going back to the Apollo design. NASA has been working on a new environmentally-friendly hybrid rocket that uses paraffin and liquid oxygen, and no fossil fuels. you can read an article about it here:

science.nasa.gov... irorocket/

Maybe this "envirorocket" just doesn't generate enough thrust to go to Mars?

They had this on TV.
Made with super deluxe CGI and looked real.
They are back to the capsule method.
Don't be fooled again.
You realize of course JPL made great actual video for Jupiter and
the planets. Those that can provide real can also provide the fake.
And years after the great Moon Landing videos.
Ed: For some reason I was astonished seeing the space shuttle plans
as companies in the work would eventually see the various designs.
I must have had a saucer moment that never occurred when the moon
mission reverted back to rocket power. I didn't think we were serious
about going to the moon and not use saucers. Well now I know we
can't use any Tesla method.

Here is what I was hoping for...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/606a6b023e54.gif[/atsimg]

... and with the antigravity drive from the TR-3B triangle ships built into it.

Surely that could be built for the $30-billion price tag of the new NASA monstrosity rocket. It would advance our technology, and move us closer to a Star Trek warp-drive.

reply to post by Larryman


Never happen.
No one knows of such things.
The ether is a big nothing and can't be used.
Don't go near over unity or you might get burnt up by the sun.
All sorts of secret deals are in the way of any unofficial word.

With budget cuts and all,who knows what they are going to do.

The Space Launch System, or SLS, is a Shuttle-Derived heavy launch vehicle being designed by NASA, following the cancellation of the Constellation Program, to replace the Space Shuttle. The NASA Authorization Act of 2010 envisions the transformation of the Ares I and Ares V vehicle designs into a single launch vehicle usable for both crew and cargo. It is to be upgraded over time with more powerful versions. The proposed SLS is visually similar to the legacy Saturn V booster and in particular the proposed, two-stage, Saturn INT-20.

en.wikipedia.org...

But wait! They have all these contracts!
If you have the time go through it.
www.grc.nasa.gov...

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