The first post ever!

This is the first post ever!

How can this be fixed? The answer is simple; NASA needs at least 10 times its current budget. It is currently hovering around a billion dollars. Now, that may seem like a lot but considering a single spacesuit costs about a million dollars, and the fuel needed to push an object into orbit is more than that objects weight in gold, and considering that all new space shuttles need to be built, and considering that the 1962 budget was around 19 billion dollars, then you can see you really can’t do anything with just a billion. The next question, WHY should it be fixed even if it can be fixed? For that answer you only need to look around the room you are sitting in currently. Do you have a phone in your pocket? Have you ever used an LED flash light? Ever used a microwave oven? Do you own a portable video camera? Do you sleep on a Temperpedic bed? Do you use a GPS on car trips? What about Google Earth? Freeze dried food? Dirt devil vacuums? Sunglasses? Solar panels? Fiberglass boats? This computer? If you or someone you know answered yes to ANY of these questions than that is the reason we should continue to fund space research. That is because every single one of the items I mentioned were invented specifically for use in the space program, each one accomplishing a unique task that simply never would have arisen on Earth and therefore the invention would have never been realized and converted for everyday use. Almost everything uses satellites nowadays for something or another, 3G, GPS, maps, TV, your cell phone. How did the satellites get there? (Hint: It wasn’t leprechauns, goblins, fairies or magic.) Space exploration stimulates scientific development by creating unique and extremely difficult problems, it stimulates the economy by placing extremely expensive demands on the private industry, and it stimulates Human advancement by putting us that much closer to our dreams of owning a house on Mars. There is so much left to learn, discover, invent and explore. So the next time you wonder why you don’t drive to work in a flying car yet, or have a robot assistant like the ones from the 1950’s Sci-Fi movies, blame the Governments laziness, the private industries indifference, and the common man’s obliviousness. And while you are blaming everyone also feel ashamed that the next time something important happens in space it very well may take place on a rocket that says “Made in China” written on the side. America is now “floundering in the backwash of scientific development,” JFK must be turning in his grave.

On November 1st the Chinese launched an unmanned spaceship into orbit. This is a test run for an eventual manned mission to build a permanent space station. What will this mean for the rest of us? Well, to understand that question let’s look at where the U.S. and Humans in general stand as far as space travel is concerned. The U.S. shuttle program is discontinued, this means that we no longer have the resources to put a man in orbit, we need the Russians to shuttle our men to and from the ISS. The last time the U.S. seriously considered going back the moon was in late 1985. At the time they wanted to build a reusable Lunar Lander to compliment the space shuttle and establish an outpost on the moon by the year 2005. NASA was recently given an opportunity to partner with the European Space Agency to build a ship to reach Mars by 2020 with a 5 billion dollar budget increase. NASA turned down this opportunity, that means that the ESA lacks the physical capabilities to reach Mars and NASA lacks the willpower. Several major experiments are planned for the near future by the private industry as well. One will test if life is capable of traveling from planet to planet by attempting to grow microorganisms on Mars’ moons (this program will be launched on Russian rockets). Virgin Airlines successfully tested a private spaceship that would allow tourists to experience near earth orbit. However, despite the successful test the program is yet to be completed on time and is 2 years overdue. The ISS itself is still incomplete, pending several more launches by both the U.S. and Russia in order to install the remaining sections. Even though NASA discovered liquid water on the moon, a major advance in the practicality of a lunar base, no missions are planned. The 21st century once promised the people of Earth: space hotels, lunar mining camps extracting the incredibly valuable helium deposits, men on Mars, and unprecedented technological advancements. Unfortunately, not even the newly created private sector has been able to pick up the slack. Although to the common man a lunar base may still seem like science fiction, (although the technology is in existence to build such a base) the benefit of [more] practical space travel is overlooked. The most common misconception is that there is really not that much left to learn. On the complete contrary, there is over 40 years of deep space experiments backed up pending a launch date that many now fear will never come. The clear and shameful lack of money, willpower, interest, and ability to see the big picture has all but stopped any attempt at space progress.

The Future of Humans in Space

The Chinese space program launched an unmanned rocket into space today as part of a new program that China hopes will build a space station by 2020. China was one of the countries that the US denied from the International Space Station. Frustrated by this development China now plans on building their own. This raises the question that has long since been forgotten. Where dose the US, and humans as a whole stand as far as space fairing is concerned? That answer is surprisingly unclear. Not a single human being has left the orbit of the earth in nearly 40 years. With such little attention being given to the subject, many question why is studying space worth it? Unfortunately many people of today’s very modern technology driven society fail to realize that almost all of today’s now taken for granted advancements that have occurred in the past 54 years came as a DIRECT result of the space race. The study of humans in space is not so much the study of the stars anymore as it is the advancement of technology to give us that opportunity. It really is a shame that most people are unaware that every aspect of our everyday lives have been dramatically affected and improved by the study of space. So the next time you talk on a cell phone, remember that it was first invented for space communication with men in orbit. The next time you do something as simple as wear sunglasses remember that UV sunglasses were invented for the visors of astronauts. Steering far clear of the abstract advantages of a space conscious society, such as future cruises to the moon, or colonies on Mars, one can not help but take part in noticing or at least using, the repercussions of the extremely heated days of the Space Race.

The Second post ever!

This is the second post ever!!!!!!!