NASA aims for moon space station for live-in astronauts in next 10 years

We choose to go to the moon.

We choose to go to the moon, Not because it is easy, but because it is hard.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

originally posted by: BrianFlanders

originally posted by: tommyjo
a reply to: toysforadults

If the US didn't land on the Moon, or even get into Lunar orbit, then why did the Russians provide their unmanned Luna 15 flight plans to NASA? NASA was concerned that Luna 15s orbit could interfere with Apollo 11. The Russians were attempting to return lunar soil back to Earth and beat the US. Luna 15 failed. Remember this is the Soviets. Not a chance in hell would they have allowed the US to upstage them with faked manned Moon landings.

Oh yes. The Soviets. The people who were willing to start WW3 to spread communism in the 60s and just quietly gave up on communism in the late 80s for no apparent reason just because Reagan said so. Because that TOTALLY makes sense.

Communism failed when the Soviet Union started to break up in 1988. The Soviets started to lose control of the Baltic Republics and Caucasus descended into civil war. The people were demanding more democracy and quickly rejected communism. What do you think the then leader of the Soviet Union was to do? His attempts at modernising Communism was rejected and that break up extended to the Warsaw Pact countries and their rejection of Communism. It wasn't just "no apparent reason" but simply the will of the people.

You also need to brush up on your US Presidents. George H. W. Bush was US President when the Communist Party in the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

a reply to: Masterjaden

You do realize that the Apollo 11 Eagle Lander was tracked onto the surface of the Moon. Are you claiming that was unmanned? How did the Eagle Lander get there?

Jodrell Bank tracking of Eagle Lander

The Eagle Lander was fully tracked and Jodrell Bank even captured the point where manual control was flown to avoid a crater.

originally posted by: tommyjo

originally posted by: BrianFlanders

originally posted by: tommyjo
a reply to: toysforadults

If the US didn't land on the Moon, or even get into Lunar orbit, then why did the Russians provide their unmanned Luna 15 flight plans to NASA? NASA was concerned that Luna 15s orbit could interfere with Apollo 11. The Russians were attempting to return lunar soil back to Earth and beat the US. Luna 15 failed. Remember this is the Soviets. Not a chance in hell would they have allowed the US to upstage them with faked manned Moon landings.

Oh yes. The Soviets. The people who were willing to start WW3 to spread communism in the 60s and just quietly gave up on communism in the late 80s for no apparent reason just because Reagan said so. Because that TOTALLY makes sense.

Communism failed when the Soviet Union started to break up in 1988.

Of course it did. That is why an ex KGB agent has been basically in charge of Russia for ages.

You also need to brush up on your US Presidents. George H. W. Bush was US President when the Communist Party in the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

I'm 45. I remember it fine. I just don't make distinctions between the mask of power that was in place at the time when this or that happened.

originally posted by: BrianFlanders
That is why an ex KGB agent has been basically in charge of Russia for ages.

Only after a certain Boris Yeltsin had been in power for 8 years (and having been instrumental in the USSR's demise).

originally posted by: wildespace

originally posted by: BrianFlanders
That is why an ex KGB agent has been basically in charge of Russia for ages.

Only after a certain Boris Yeltsin had been in power for 8 years (and having been instrumental in the USSR's demise).

Stop putting facts in his way! No doubt he will only dismiss it. No doubt he believes that "Yeltsin" was just Putin in a fat suit!

How is NASA going to build a space station on the moon when they won't even reveal the real photos of the moon landing? Apparently they're all doctored b/c they dont want us to see what's actually on the moon

[snipped]

love to see how they explain this lol

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) completed a NASA study for the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), which is the first module planned to be launched for NASA’s Gateway in lunar orbit. The study was performed under one of SNC’s Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships-2 (NextSTEP-2) contracts. SNC plans to submit a bid to win the NASA contract when the agency issues its formal solicitation for the element later this year.

“Our design provides pressurized volume in addition to the capabilities NASA requires,” said Steve Lindsey, vice president of SNC’s Space Exploration Systems and former NASA space shuttle commander. “We are providing significant mission flexibility for transportation and operations from low-Earth orbit to lunar orbit.” Lindsey flew on five space shuttle missions for NASA and commanded three assembly and test missions to the International Space Station. He was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2015.

The study included a comprehensive look to determine the operational uses of the PPE, if it fits NASA’s needs and the opportunity for multiple commercial applications. SNC was one of five companies selected for the study.

www.parabolicarc.com...


The cargo module is the backend half of the image with the solar panels, not the spaceplane section:

www.coloradospacenews.com... ted.1503171510473.png

The upload is hosed again for me or I'd upload it here.

originally posted by: Danaluet
How is NASA going to build a space station on the moon when they won't even reveal the real photos of the moon landing? Apparently they're all doctored b/c they dont want us to see what's actually on the moon

[snipped]

love to see how they explain this lol

Can you show any evidence that those images have been doctored? We have some great high-res images of the landing sites: www.lroc.asu.edu...

Launch Schedule:

www.nasaspaceflight.com...

Note: the airlock has been delayed. Originally, it was going to be part of the EM-3 mission. The Russians were claiming they were going to build it. This latest plan states the airlock acquisition strategy has been deferred until 2020 for a decision. That is not a strong vote of confidence in Russian participation.

Japan wants to participate:

www.parabolicarc.com...

I liked this idea when it was first proposed in the 1960s.

I'm sure it will happen this time, though!

NOT!

Why aren't we already living on the Moon?

paleofuture.gizmodo.com...

originally posted by: Blue Shift
Why aren't we already living on the Moon?

paleofuture.gizmodo.com...

All efforts were put into low-earth orbit, such as the Space Shuttle program and the International Space Station.

It wont happen. The technology level is not evolved enough for humans to be sustained in space.

a reply to: AthlonSavage


What about the astronauts living on the ISS as we speak?

originally posted by: oldcarpy
a reply to: AthlonSavage


What about the astronauts living on the ISS as we speak?

They go there for a few months and then get back. They also have frequent supply ships, and a way to get back to earth very quickly. They're still inside the earth's magnetic field, being protected from space radiation.

You would have none of that on the Moon or Mars.

It's interesting to read the psychological effects that walking on the Moon had on the various astronauts who did actually did it. A few like Armstrong, who by all accounts never had much of an imagination to begin with, came back fine. But the majority ended up having some problems.

Sure, you can say that historically flying to the Moon is naturally going to have a psychological effect. And maybe once going back and forth to the Moon becomes a simple commute, that kind of thing won't happen as much.

But I sometimes wonder if being physically far away from everybody else will have a very bad psychological effect on the explorers. We rely so much on having other people around us to help define our realities. To be that far away might not be very healthy for humans.

SPACE MADNESS!

Russia is threatening to quit Gateway station:

www.reuters.com...

At current, Russia isn't on the launch manifest for modules for the Gateway station. They were - supposedly - going to supply the EVA airlock, but NASA has postponed how they are going to procure that piece until at least 2020:



There are multiple reasons for the postponement.

1. ROSCOSMOS *still* has not launched its last modules to the International Space Station: this is due to a lack of money and technical issues. NASA probably does not want its new station to be crippled by the Russians not being able to deliver on time.

2. There's a whole different political climate than when Russia was invited into the International Space Station. The reason the ISS was built by the US instead of the Superconducting Supercollider back in the day was because NASA successfully pitched the Clinton administration to use the ISS to keep Russian aerospace engineers employed so their knowledge would not spread to the rest of the world. It was semi successful, but Russia and America are antagonists once more. The timing of the new decision is an interesting year, no? It might be postponed even further until after the next presidential election so as to know what the new (or continuing) administration will want.

Russia is now threatening to build their own gateway station. With the money issues the Russians currently are facing, that puts the idea in doubt.

Furthermore, ESA, Canada and Japan are onboard for NASA's station, limiting the partners ROSCOSMOS can have and the Chinese think the Gateway station is a waste of time: they want to do direct flights for their manned program from Earth to the lunar surface and are not planning on manned missions to mars soon. That makes the Chinese a nonstarter for the Russian station.

Finally, the Indians are getting really sick of the Russian games with aerospace projects: the FGFA turned into a disaster India cancelled; the Russians tried to extort more money from India for the joint Brahmos missile when testing a faster version; and the aircraft carrier India bought cost far more than promised and has massive engineering problems including outright breaking down on the way to India. India is planning their first manned spaceflight in 2022, but even if the flight goes on time, they will need a period of time before they are ready to leave low earth orbit: at least five years, possibly more.

We might be seeing the end of Russia and America collaborating in space. The Russians are claiming NASA wants to continue the International Space Station up to 2030, but with the increased budget pressures for NASA with its lunar and martian human space flight programs, the budget pressure given Congress' level of funding for NASA would probably not be sufficient to do so.

TBH with the geopolitical climate, I would say NASA and ROSCOSMOS' relationship will be at an end here shortly. Moves by the Russians government even besides whatever may be happening online are rather troubling and confrontational. The motivation of keeping Russian aerospace engineers employed to stop proliferation is no longer relevant: the rest of the world has caught up enough they need not hire away Russians en mass to get their projects done. The Indians dumped the Russians on the final testing of the hypersonic version of the Brahmos without any issues, for example.

This could be the end of an era, really. Russia might be left behind in LEO while the rest of the world moves on. It's quite a contrast from when I was a kid in the 1980s and folks were talking about how the Red Planet would be Red.

a reply to: anzha

www.ruaviation.com...

The Russians are backtracking a bit on saying they are not going to participate. This might have been a negotiating tactic that backfired.

a reply to: anzha

The Russians are using the waffle technique!

They are really unhappy, it seems, the US is going to treat the Gateway station as an American station the other countries are participating in, rather than an international project with international governance.

spacenews.com...