So in the 1950’s & 60’s the adventurous human-race squashed people into tiny space-capsules, plonked them on top of an enormous rocket and blasted them into space. When finished the tiny capsule then fell back to Earth and splashed into the ocean. The squashed people inside were then rescued by a boat or helicopter. Sometimes things didn’t quite work out, but mostly this went off ok. But surely there was a better way?
Well the next 3 decades saw the development and use of a re-usable space vehicle. Yes it was still strapped to the side of a pretty hefty rocket to launch the thing, but the Shuttle was roomy, could carry cargo and could land on a runway, enabling the people inside to simply walk out. Sometimes things didn’t quite work out, but mostly this went off ok. But this is 21st Century and the adventurous human-race are ever eager to push the boundaries further…
So according to an article I read today, the next step in space-travel will involve squashing people into tiny capsules, which are plonked on top of an enormous rocket and blasted into space. When finished the capsule will then fall back to Earth and splash into the ocean 😯
Not quite ‘boldly going’ in my book!!!
Emily Grae
Yesterday a friend of mine said she didn’t understand why people were so sad for the Shuttle, that it was just going to the Smithsonian, they could go there and see it anytime that they wanted! I responded that for me, it’s not so much that it’s the last of the Shuttle program that gets me, it’s that there isn’t a firm arrangement for a new ANYTHING to replace it. It’s the lack of interest and support for the space program from either left or right sides of the government or even the whole of society. Nobody cares about anything that doesn’t give immediate gratification. Too few people care about science OR art or even each other. What else is there? Nothing. Too many people just seem to live their little unambitious, unmotivated lives, struggling day to day just to one day end up dead. As much as I would absolutely LOVE to go to the Smithsonian and see it up close, it will never replace waking up early and going out and seeing it suddenly appear like a new star in the west, blazing across the morning sky… It’s not that it’s a machine going by, it’s the people that work on it, in it, for it, about it… It’s the human spirit of adventure, of building a better world to live in that is dieing. The Shuttle program is just one of the larger “animals” going extinct, with countless other science/art/social programs too small to make the news that have already gone before it. Live animals are WAY more exciting to watch than seeing extinct taxidermied ones in a museum, especially when we are those animals.
stephen
Good points… Also (and people across the pond may well correct me on this), investment in the space-program & space exploration/milestones (moon, voyager, shuttle, hubble, space-station etc) was often seen as a potential vote winner, not to mention a huge big boost & feel-good factor for the country… ‘Hey let’s get the flags waving, we’ve built ourselves a Space-Station…’
Sad to say that I’m guessing the only sure fire vote winner and flag waving stunt today was when some U.S guy fired a few bullets into Bin Laden…
The Human Race is losing it’s sense of adventure…