Mission Complete.

Congrats to Tom, Bob and the K.S.C. for the successful Atlantis mission.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2011 02:09PM by Aaron.

Glad everyone is home safe! Still a sad day in history though.

Congratulations to all involved from across the pond. Heard on the news that 4000 employees will be laid off tomorrow. Very sad news.

riko Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Congratulations to all involved from across the
> pond. Heard on the news that 4000 employees will
> be laid off tomorrow. Very sad news.


That is better, I thought they said 8000

Quoted from the "Florida Today" newspaper in today's edition:

"About 7,000 shuttle worker jobs will have disappeared with the end of the program. Thousands of those positions are already gone. On Friday, some 1,510 workers for United Space Alliance, the main shuttle contractor, will be out of a job."

Its is very hard to put your finger on the exact number of folks headed to the unemployment line, but I can tell you that our local area here on the Space Cost is being devastated.

Our country is being taken apart an fed to the jackals.

Bob, what IS the future of the space program? There has to be something.

Tom still have a job???

Learn Mandarin.

Ozzie.....in response to your question...what is the future?

Our future can and may take several directions.....Manned, Unmanned......near earth, deep space......Government, commercial.....and any mix thereof. In the past, the government has taken the role, whether it be NASA or DoD, in defining the mission needs of our country and in turn developing the vehicles to support those needs. Today we have a very poor defined mission need other than to "service" the Space Station. That's all well and good but it does nothing to push the envelope and engage the future of manned space travel. Without that far reaching goal....we find ourselves stagnant and rudderless.

You will hear on the news that many firms are stepping up to the plate to TRY and provide commercial services to support the Space Station need. Whether it be crew or cargo, this is still a far cry from a bold commitment to continue man's journey into the heavens. At this moment, with the landing of Atlantis this morning, the good old USA no longer has any capability to place a man in space...and there is no date that we can say we will be putting a man in space. We will rely on Russia to provide that service via Soyuz.

Owning the High Ground in any endeavor, whether it be war, or building your home on a distant hill, has always been the strategic goal. Today, Russia can do that, China can do that, India will soon do that and the USA will sit and watch and debate and wring our hands in disbelief.

Here is the bottom line. WE are a GREAT nation. We are capable of accomplishing GREAT things. When we set our minds to doing something....WE GET IT DONE! We haven't set our minds to do anything...our leaders have chosen a path to nowhere and until we have a bold new leader like Kennedy was when he stated "we will send a man to the moon and return him safely to Earth before this decade is out", we will sit and we will wait and we will fade.

To answer your question directly...look for the following unexciting programs to capture headlines. Space Launch System (SLS) , Heavy Lift Vehicle (HLV) , Commercial Crew Development (CCDev). Google them if you like.

Bob

> Here is the bottom line. WE are a GREAT nation.
> We are capable of accomplishing GREAT things.
> When we set our minds to doing something....WE GET
> IT DONE! We haven't set our minds to do
> anything...our leaders have chosen a path to
> nowhere and until we have a bold new leader like
> Kennedy was when he stated "we will send a man to
> the moon and return him safely to Earth before
> this decade is out", we will sit and we will wait
> and we will fade.

How do we as a nation change the way we are headed when the puss-heads in office (both sides of the isle) do not want to correct the problem? We can not wait for their terms to expire and vote them out... we can't afford the wait. Besides, the next set of liars will just follow suit. This really scares me how our country is degraded to this point and China holds the trump card!!! Yet Washington can not balance the budget without raping our retired who supported this nation their whole lives. It just sickens me!!!!!!!!

Here Here Schultize, I feel the same way.....powerless. Obama became president of the United States, what does that tell ya? It's like a virus.

i believe it's the end of MANNED space missions,,,, not an end to ALL,,, JMHO

Spending.

Thats what needs to be cut. There is way too much money being spent, way too many obligations, way too much corruption.

Really interesting time we all live in.

Spending does need to be cut.....................but............in the right areas.

correct! not on the "backs" of the retired though!
(s.s) is NOT an 'entitlement' program!

(h.h.!)
j.t.