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5 Comments
Mark R. Whittington wrote:
Actually, Rand, the thinking is neither ludicrous nor wishfull. I'd rather not face the prospect of China as a space power, considering its tyrannical government and hostile stance toward the world. But I'd also rather not deal with the matter by denying it exists.
Edward Wright wrote:
Actually, Rand, the thinking is neither ludicrous nor wishfull. I'd rather not face the prospect of China as a space power, considering its tyrannical government and hostile stance toward the world. But I'd also rather not deal with the matter by denying it exists.
Laugh. This from the man who said the US shouldn't worry about China's military spaceplane until *after* it begins routinely flying it into orbit.
We shouldn't worry about a hostile power developing the capability to attack US carriers and other military assets at will, anywhere in the world, from the safety of airfields in their home country?
But we should panic about the possibility that someone might do a few ultra-expensive flag and footprint missions that are militarily and commercially useless?
What's the difference, other than the fact that you think it's important for NASA to send people into space and unimportant (or undesireable?) for the military or private enterprise to do so?
Edward Wright wrote:
The participants in the latter have actually launched crewed space craft into orbit (and one beyond, once upon a time.) Some fantasy.
Yes, Mark, some fantasy.
You forget that the first NASA astronaut was a US Navy officer, launched from a US Air Force missile station, on a US Army missile. All NASA contributed was the capsule. Although, I guess Mark would say Alan Shepherd's flight was worthless because it isn't orbital, and suborbital flight can never lead to anything useful according to Mark.
The first NASA astronaut to reach orbit was a US Marine Corps officer, again launched from a US Air Force missile station, this time on a US Army missile.
It wasn't until Apollo that NASA finally had a truly "civilian" rocket.
The US military clearly could have launched crewed spacecraft into orbit if the politicians let them. They came very close with DynaSoar. They never did so because they weren't *allowed to*, not because they were incapable.
Of course, you will continue to slander both the military and the private sector because they aren't the holy NASA.
Rand Simberg wrote:
I'd rather not face the prospect of China as a space power
Nor would I, though it's probably inevitable. That has zero to do with your ongoing wishful fantasy about them racing us to the moon.
ShittingtonIsAnIdiotRocketeer wrote:
Shittington is a founding member of the Idiot Rocketeer Club. Pure and simple as that.
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About this Entry
This page contains a single entry by Rand Simberg published on April 1, 2008 7:47 AM.
Actually, Rand, the thinking is neither ludicrous nor wishfull. I'd rather not face the prospect of China as a space power, considering its tyrannical government and hostile stance toward the world. But I'd also rather not deal with the matter by denying it exists.
Actually, Rand, the thinking is neither ludicrous nor wishfull. I'd rather not face the prospect of China as a space power, considering its tyrannical government and hostile stance toward the world. But I'd also rather not deal with the matter by denying it exists.
Laugh. This from the man who said the US shouldn't worry about China's military spaceplane until *after* it begins routinely flying it into orbit.
We shouldn't worry about a hostile power developing the capability to attack US carriers and other military assets at will, anywhere in the world, from the safety of airfields in their home country?
But we should panic about the possibility that someone might do a few ultra-expensive flag and footprint missions that are militarily and commercially useless?
What's the difference, other than the fact that you think it's important for NASA to send people into space and unimportant (or undesireable?) for the military or private enterprise to do so?
The participants in the latter have actually launched crewed space craft into orbit (and one beyond, once upon a time.) Some fantasy.
Yes, Mark, some fantasy.
You forget that the first NASA astronaut was a US Navy officer, launched from a US Air Force missile station, on a US Army missile. All NASA contributed was the capsule. Although, I guess Mark would say Alan Shepherd's flight was worthless because it isn't orbital, and suborbital flight can never lead to anything useful according to Mark.
The first NASA astronaut to reach orbit was a US Marine Corps officer, again launched from a US Air Force missile station, this time on a US Army missile.
It wasn't until Apollo that NASA finally had a truly "civilian" rocket.
The US military clearly could have launched crewed spacecraft into orbit if the politicians let them. They came very close with DynaSoar. They never did so because they weren't *allowed to*, not because they were incapable.
Of course, you will continue to slander both the military and the private sector because they aren't the holy NASA.
I'd rather not face the prospect of China as a space power
Nor would I, though it's probably inevitable. That has zero to do with your ongoing wishful fantasy about them racing us to the moon.
Shittington is a founding member of the Idiot Rocketeer Club. Pure and simple as that.