The space shuttle was not an end all be all but a stepping stone or piece of a puzzle

[CmdrShep2154]

I remember when the space shuttle was retired in 2011 and everyone acted like humanity gave up on human spaceflight. That however was not the case.

Reusable rockets and now space capsules have made getting into space much cheaper.




Perhaps those reusable rockets and capsules could be good for transporting astronauts to a spacecraft like this.


Everything NASA and now the private industry has done in space are stepping stones on a long journey or puzzle pieces being assembled into a puzzle. From Mercury to Skylab to the ISS and now reusable rocket tech, this adventure we call space exploration is not complete. The Puzzle is not complete.

There are exciting things in the works!




Unfortunately many people won't get excited in space travel until someone invents a warp drive.

[Logwyn]

I remember when the space shuttle was retired in 2011 and everyone acted like humanity gave up on human spaceflight. That however was not the case.

Trouble with the space shuttle is that it never really lived up to the hype or proposed ability to launch 50 times in a year. Way to expensive as well for what it was suppose to do. The Shuttle program killed more people than any other space vehicle in history.

The problem right now is that what Space-X is doing to the average person is simply shooting rockets up, throw a satellite up, and come home. To that untrained person we've been doing that since the 1950s and its "boring".

The real down turn with interest in space started in 1986 when Challenger blew up and all the media hype with it. Then throw in that the USSR fell apart a few years later and the US had no one to compete with and to "WIN against". The Challenger disaster also took away the idea that maybe just maybe people from the general population would/could be going into space rather than elite trained military/scientist.

Until the general population can plan to go to Disney Lunar or Disney Mars next summer on vacation no wonder there is not much interest.

[smityx]

I don't think people will get interested in space again until we have reliable reusable SSO (single stage to orbit) craft that are vaguely shaped like a airplane and can take off and land on a runway. But then space flight just become the next iteration of airtravel. This day trip from San Fran to London and back again the same day,

[Logwyn]

I don't think people will get interested in space again until we have reliable reusable SSO (single stage to orbit) craft that are vaguely shaped like a airplane and can take off and land on a runway. But then space flight just become the next iteration of airtravel. This day trip from San Fran to London and back again the same day,

You mean like this?
https://www.theweek.co.uk/travel/107...ust-90-minutes

[Tuor]

I'm not even american, butt...

When i see this again...


I will know we back home.

The only real limitation of shuttle was the inability to put stuff in higger orbits, other then that, it did exactaly what was designed for, multiporpouse.

[smityx]

You mean like this?
https://www.theweek.co.uk/travel/107...ust-90-minutes

This is a supersonic jet that will only do 60,000 ft . Basically a modern day concord that's still in a concept phase. As with the concord it's use will be severely limited due to the NIMBYs not wanting the sonic boom disrupting them and the premium price per ticket that will limit the clientele to wealthy day trippers and upper level business travel.

[Unholyground]

Space elevator made with neigh unbreakable graphene is the next step.

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

You're right. The next rockefeller will be the one who invents AND patents and monopolies Space Travel. Multi-trillions of dollars can be made. Not just by the space travel but everything that -is- to be influenced by it. [Ex. Hover-cars, hover-boards, hover-cycles, holographics, etc].

The company that patents the first vehicle to fly from China to California in 2 hours will be the richest company of the century.

[Egomaniac]

The company that patents the first vehicle to fly from China to California in 2 hours will be the richest company of the century.

Not necessarily...being first does not mean being best.

[Shadowferal]

You're right. The next rockefeller will be the one who invents AND patents and monopolies Space Travel. Multi-trillions of dollars can be made.

Pfft...no entertainment value.
Joe Average has no reason to travel in space.

[Logwyn]

Space elevator made with neigh unbreakable graphene is the next step.

Saw a proposal for this that we should build it on the moon and dangle it back towards Earth with anchor other than gravity on the Earth side.

[Unholyground]

Saw a proposal for this that we should build it on the moon and dangle it back towards Earth with anchor other than gravity on the Earth side.

They know it can be done there's just some pieces of technology missing but we're getting there.

[Biglog]

The Space Shuttle was a massive success in that it took space travel from a rare event to something much more common and re-useable. Before the shuttle, space rocket launches were a very big deal. Many were on national tv coverage on abc/nbc/cbs live, that's how big of a deal it was. The shuttle launches made that almost routine, at least until the crashes.

In the 70's and 80's when the shuttle was being designed, a lot of the tech was very bleeding edge. It pushed a lot of things to the limit, which is why the Soviet attempt at a shuttle never even got off the ground. And that's also why it failed. But the human reasons for pushing hard for the shuttle back in the 1970's still exist. Pollution, fears of WW3, etc.

The issue NASA has and will always have is that it is so tied into politics and the government. Space projects take 20+ years. During that time US administrations switch back and forth between Demo and GOP, and like a tug of war NASA budgets get increased and slashed every time there is an administration change. That makes it super-difficult to plan and execute 20+ year projects when budgets and direction are often drastically getting yanked in opposite directions. That's the big advantage SpaceX has, they don't have to worry about that. They have a clear direction and focus, they know roughly what budgets will be. For NASA one year it's global warming, next year Mars, the year after something else, just depending who's in charge of their budget.

[smityx]

Not necessarily...being first does not mean being best.

Probably. SpaceX will probably be the first and be the start of the mass marketing of it. But someone(s) will eventually come along and compete and do it cheaper/better. Probably a Chinese or Indian group.

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The Space Shuttle was a massive success in that it took space travel from a rare event to something much more common and re-useable. Before the shuttle, space rocket launches were a very big deal. Many were on national tv coverage on abc/nbc/cbs live, that's how big of a deal it was. The shuttle launches made that almost routine, at least until the crashes.

Goes further back than that. After a few Apollo missions people/politicians started to become uninterested. It's part of the reason why Apollo was stopped.

[Forrest White]

On November 14 NASA together with SpaceX plan to launch a crew to ISS - this will be their second flight and it means that US can now refuse from using the Soviet Soyuz rockets.