http://www.thespacebuff.com/current/ares-1-x-ready-for-test-oblivion/ On the human and robotic adventures beyond Earth. Fri, 21 Oct 2011 19:45:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.thespacebuff.com/current/ares-1-x-ready-for-test-oblivion/#comment-301 Richard Wolfe Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:25:21 +0000 http://www.thespacebuff.com/?p=2180#comment-301 We will be lucky if we get the Ares I partial replacement (it can only carry crew, not cargo) for the space shuttle (if the Augustine Committee and President Obama do not kill it - like they are already talking of killing manned moon base plans and the Ares 5 which would enable heavy lifting and the Altair moon lander and Earth/moon transit vehicle) . If we don't have the ISS as a destination we have nowhere to send manned space missions (heck, if they cancel the ISS we might as well stay home and throw in the towel). Already decisions have been made which will reduce us to a third rate non space faring agency. We will have to beg/buy/borrow rides (7 years) from the Russians and China is able to send men into space, too, as we plan to retire the space shuttle in 2010 and won't have the Ares until 2017, if ever. Look how well outsourcing everything to India and China has worked for us. If he cancels the Ares I, we will go from a leadership position to a non space faring Obama banana republic. China is planning to develop it's plan for the moon, and they will do it even if we don't or do it. So, I guess there will be human colonization on the moon, space, and the stars, it just won't be us unless we change direction. We can have our wonderful robotic exploration space agency chronicle the expansion of their civiization. Think of how much money we'll save letting them have the rest of the universe. Our only other hopes are idealistic creators like Chang-Diaz with his VASIMR rocket, Burt Rutan with Space Ship One, and Elon Musk with the Falcon (cargo) and Dragon (crew) vehicles. Once they appear to be viable, then, perhaps, they can be opened to public investment and the unlimited resevoir of human greed can be harnessed to make profits and increase their activity. We will be lucky if we get the Ares I partial replacement (it can only carry crew, not cargo) for the space shuttle (if the Augustine Committee and President Obama do not kill it – like they are already talking of killing manned moon base plans and the Ares 5 which would enable heavy lifting and the Altair moon lander and Earth/moon transit vehicle) . If we don’t have the ISS as a destination we have nowhere to send manned space missions (heck, if they cancel the ISS we might as well stay home and throw in the towel). Already decisions have been made which will reduce us to a third rate non space faring agency. We will have to beg/buy/borrow rides (7 years) from the Russians and China is able to send men into space, too, as we plan to retire the space shuttle in 2010 and won’t have the Ares until 2017, if ever. Look how well outsourcing everything to India and China has worked for us. If he cancels the Ares I, we will go from a leadership position to a non space faring Obama banana republic. China is planning to develop it’s plan for the moon, and they will do it even if we don’t or do it. So, I guess there will be human colonization on the moon, space, and the stars, it just won’t be us unless we change direction. We can have our wonderful robotic exploration space agency chronicle the expansion of their civiization. Think of how much money we’ll save letting them have the rest of the universe. Our only other hopes are idealistic creators like Chang-Diaz with his VASIMR rocket, Burt Rutan with Space Ship One, and Elon Musk with the Falcon (cargo) and Dragon (crew) vehicles. Once they appear to be viable, then, perhaps, they can be opened to public investment and the unlimited resevoir of human greed can be harnessed to make profits and increase their activity.

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