Final shuttle goes up - US manned missions to space over for a while

[St. Squigolas]

Re: Final shuttle goes up - US manned missions to space over for a whi

As NASA's offical TrekBBS representative...I'm thinking about requesting having this thread closed as it's giving me a headache.

 

[Deckerd]

Re: Final shuttle goes up - US manned missions to space over for a whi

That would have to be a pretty fast car. An hour, maybe.

Oooh that reminds me of a race they did on Top Gear between a Typhoon flying straight up and a racing car. It was one of their epically silly yet stunningly cool 'challenges'.

Found it

Gotta love those twits.

Squiggy watch the video and your headache will vanish. I promise.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Re: Final shuttle goes up - US manned missions to space over for a whi

As NASA's offical TrekBBS representative...I'm thinking about requesting having this thread closed as it's giving me a headache.

What do you think are the odds of a bit of roof flying off of a sub-orbital commercial flight while the passengers are napping?

 

[St. Squigolas]

Re: Final shuttle goes up - US manned missions to space over for a whi

As NASA's offical TrekBBS representative...I'm thinking about requesting having this thread closed as it's giving me a headache.

What do you think are the odds of a bit of roof flying off of a sub-orbital commercial flight while the passengers are napping?

Depends on if Southwest gets into the suborbital game.

 

[MANT!]

Re: Final shuttle goes up - US manned missions to space over for a whi

Virgin Galactic has some concepts for sub-orbital travel..

SpaceX will take over "routine LEO missions"..and GEO missions..

Nasa even with a reduced budget, is now free concentrate on what it does best..exploration to find those financial opportunities that private industry will exploite...

 

[St. Squigolas]

Re: Final shuttle goes up - US manned missions to space over for a whi

NASA doesn't have a reduced budget.

 

[MANT!]

Re: Final shuttle goes up - US manned missions to space over for a whi

NASA doesn't have a reduced budget.

Perhaps I should have stated "even if it gets a reduced budget".. but the point remains..the shuttle was a huge drain on available funds for development of alternative systems...

 

[St. Squigolas]

Re: Final shuttle goes up - US manned missions to space over for a whi

Indeed, and Constellation suffered from it to the point of having to be taken 'round back and shot.

 

[G2309]

Re: Final shuttle goes up - US manned missions to space over for a whi

It's to see an end to an era but it will be exciting to see what happens with Nasa next. I thought the space shuttle was still cheaper than Russian rockets due to reusibility.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Re: Final shuttle goes up - US manned missions to space over for a whi

I thought the space shuttle was still cheaper than Russian rockets due to reusibility.

Doesn't work that way. A Space Shuttle launch alone costs 450 million dollars. It's hard to find exact figures figues for Soyuz, but it's generally assumed to be significantly lower.

 

[sojourner]

Re: Final shuttle goes up - US manned missions to space over for a whi

I thought the space shuttle was still cheaper than Russian rockets due to reusibility.

Edit to add: Soyuz launches (depending on how you figure) cost somewhere between 60 and 100 million dollars to NASA. If they were to buy all 3 seats in a launch. Internal price cost for Russia to launch? Alot less I am guessing.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Re: Final shuttle goes up - US manned missions to space over for a whi

I guess its re-usability made the Space Shuttle pretty expensive. Every time you had to refit it for another launch, replace the whole heat shield etc.

The only thing the Shuttle was really good for is probably space station building. For everything else, capsules seem to be cheaper and safer. Well, at least you can say that the Space Shuttle was put to full use with the ISS construction.

 

[Crisp Conditions]

Re: Final shuttle goes up - US manned missions to space over for a whi

It was really good at Hubble repair.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Re: Final shuttle goes up - US manned missions to space over for a whi

It was really good at Hubble repair.

That's true too. But these were only five out of 135 missions.

 

[Agent Richard07]

Re: Final shuttle goes up - US manned missions to space over for a whi

Found this...