Rick Tumlinson eloquently states many of my concerns with NASA’s (and specifically Mike Griffin’s) approach to getting back to the moon:
…it is tempting to harken back to the
Category Archives: Space
Planetary Society Tests Death-Ray Weapon In Space
It must be true, it’s on the Internet.
No, I don’t know whether or not they’re serious either.
[Via Jeff Foust]
[Update a few minutes later]
Thomas James has further commentary.
A Heart Breaker
It looks like the private solar sail mission may have gone in the drink.
This just points up how ridiculous our space transportation situation is. There is no other field in which we would accept the horrifically low reliability of vehicles, and the only reason for it is that we’ve historically simply come to accept it, and won’t demand better.
[Update on Wednesday morning]
Good news. Or at least better news. They seem to have found it. It’s not in the right orbit, but it’s in an orbit. Let’s hope it’s in an orbit that will last long enough to get it on its sunshiny way.
[Another update at 9:20 AM]
Emily Lakdawalla is blogging the progress.
[Update at 1:20 PM EDT]
Looks like the mission is history.
What A Difference A Year Makes
Last summer solstice, a year ago today, I was in Mojave, California, watching SpaceShipOne go into space for the first time. Tariq Malik describes all of the activity since then that bodes well for private space passenger travel.
My Take On Derb’s Rant
OK, I decided to do a mild (because there’s actually much of it with which I agree) fisking of last week’s piece.
My Take On Derb’s Rant
OK, I decided to do a mild (because there’s actually much of it with which I agree) fisking of last week’s piece.
My Take On Derb’s Rant
OK, I decided to do a mild (because there’s actually much of it with which I agree) fisking of last week’s piece.
Not Impressed
John Derbyshire doesn’t think much of (what I’m guessing is) Keith Cowing’s emails:
I had some exchanges with one fellow who took strong exception to my Space Shuttle piece. “It must really suck being you,” he asserted. Now, this is pretty lame on a first occurrence; but in our subsequent exchanges he just couldn’t think of any way to improve on it. “Like I said, it must really suck being you,” he’d close. It dawned on me at last that the guy thinks this is the most crushing, most devastating put-down that has yet been devised from the English language. I weep for these people.
Which reminds me that I still plan to critique the piece myself.
Derb’s Rant
I was going to comment on this strange and hyperbolic broadside at the Shuttle, and the manned space program in general from John Derbyshire, but Mark Whittington (who really should spell check his posts) and Clark Lindsey have preempted much of what I would have written.
Briefly, while I agree with his conclusions, he gets there by accident, because his premises are mostly wrong, and his numbers exaggerated beyond any semblance of reality.
Derb’s Rant
I was going to comment on this strange and hyperbolic broadside at the Shuttle, and the manned space program in general from John Derbyshire, but Mark Whittington (who really should spell check his posts) and Clark Lindsey have preempted much of what I would have written.
Briefly, while I agree with his conclusions, he gets there by accident, because his premises are mostly wrong, and his numbers exaggerated beyond any semblance of reality.