its a sad day
 

even though i am in the uk, the shuttle is still one of the most exciting things in my life.

its a bit of a mistake to talk about it as i have toys and books and will point out all the films its been in.

i think i am the shuttle generation.

i think kids today do not care.

so i guess i am lucky.

i do hope that some musium in the uk buys one or at least one goes on a world tour as i so would love to just touch one. even better if they let you go inside. i would be more than happy to pay to do that.

No such luck, i'm pretty sure that they are all spoken for and will go to u.s. museums. (even though we did give them a Concord!)

biggest waste of money in the world . the space program

Have you thought about visiting theking, I think you two would get along great.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

yeah more roads more roads!!

progress

The only sad thing it's you, DVTimes ...

As long as it's possible I'm all for exploration of Space. The Ocean's should get some more exploration as well :)

Ha, sounds like Fatfoo :1orglaugh

At the end of the day, NASA has given people three things that they care about:

GPS, satellite TV and memory foam beds.

Ignore all of the rest, add up all that has been spent and Tempurpedic is like a 7 trillion dollar discovery.

Not impressive.

Wow you are short-sited

Think Facebook, all the idiots who use it 24/7 wouldn't be able to.

I think one of the Shuttles will be on display at the Space Center where it launches from.
You can go there to see it along with all the other cool space stuff they have. There is also a Shuttle simulation ride that will give you the feeling of actually launching in the Space Shuttle.

The Space Center is about an hours drive from Orlando so you can hit up Disney World while you're there. It's a great vacation that millions have already found out :thumbsup

BTW I'm about 40 miles from the launch pad and it was too cloudy to see it today.

Sad day? No, I don't think so. Was it a sad day when NASA ended their rocket program and introduced the shuttle? Not at all.

Frankly I'm interested to see what mode of space transport they'll trot out next.

Don't hold your breath because NASA doesn't have much planned for the near future when it comes to manned space flights. The next one will probably come from the private sector.

Yeah. The sad part is that they don't have any more manned flights planned. The fact that it's Atlantis' last flight doesn't mean all that much.

True. I think unmanned flight has some interest, as you can make lighter vehicles, and make them go faster.

For example; I would like to see solar sails that can accelerate rovers to Mars in 2 weeks.

The way it is now it is. It needs to be run completely different.

I never hold my breath where NASA is concerned because whenever they start in about some new project or plans for future missions etc they are invariably always on a 5-10 year timeframe.

But you're not entirely correct, there is actually a lot of talk on news and space programs about plans for near future space exploration, including a trip to Mars with a prior stopover on an asteroid between here and there. Of course if this does happen it would be closer to 2015-2020 before it happens.

The thing that seems to be the most often mentioned as to what's holding them back is budget. They (the experts and NASA people being interviewed) all seem to feel fairly confident they have enough to develop certain technologies, such as a mulit-environment rover, but that after they build such toys they may not have the funds to actually use it, as in send it anywhere.

Don't forget:

http://www.michaelrobertmiles.com/bl...10/07/tang.gif


http://www.binbin.net/photos/generic...neapolitan.jpg

and

http://img.ibtimes.com/www/data/imag...ubble-nasa.jpg

Even though the hubble got off to a rocky start, I think the results are breathtaking and amazing and will assist us in learning much more about the universe around us.

The space center is worth a visit for anyone who actually gives a crap about nasa and the space program. It has one of the first Imax theatres and I haven't been in one yet that's come close to being as impressive, the screen is 5 stories tall and the surround sound is sick amazing. If you can schedule it so you get to see something there that's shot by / in Imax it's incredible.

more products of the space program:
Dialysis
CAT scans
Millions of blow molded products
Foil over foam insulation, used to keep your house col and bills lower
Cordless tools
Smoke detectors
Satellite communication (CNN)

Don't worry the Russian Space program, the original and the best, is still going.

I remember the challenger I was a kid at school we all went see the lauch in a big screen and I though was not real, like fireworks...

NYTimes quote of the day today:

"We've come full circle since 1961, back to when we had yet to show we could launch people into space. We will be hitching rides from the Russians to go to the space station that is mainly ours."
~ STEVEN J. DICK, a retired NASA chief historian, on the last launching in the space shuttle program.

I doubt that's going to sit well with the US for long.