McCain Goes InSane Over Russian Rocket Engines

"Regardless of its widely discussed sanctions policy, the United States still cannot break its reliance on Russian-made RD-180 engines to get to space, US journalist Tim Mak notes, adding that the situation has left US Senator John McCain seething with rage."

US Senator John McCain is blowing a gasket over America's inability to find a suitable substitution for Russia's RD-180 engines, accusing his Republican fellows of playing into Moscow's hands, US journalist Tim Mak notes.

sputniknews.com...

"Mr. McCain, the problem is that you and your associates in the Congress, that grand and benevolent asylum for the helpless and infirm, looked the other way while American corporations boosted their profits by abandoning domestic manufacturing and buying products from cheaper suppliers located in nations with lower taxes and regulatory burdens. And this is the result. The United States can't do what it used to so. We can't make good rocket engines. We can't go back to the Moon. Hell, we can't even get our own astronauts up to the space station an earlier generation of Americans built! Hell, we can't even make an automobile ignition switch that won't shut off while driving!"

"You members of Congress made this mess, going back forty years. Stop trying to blame Russia for this. Russia knows what you all forgot. A nation's eocnomy must have manufactured products and agricultural produce to sell to other nations in order to prosper, or at least avoid a billion and a half dollar a day trade deficit such as the US now suffers."

"This is all your fault, John. You and your cronies in Congress. Stop trying to find a scapegoat, man up, admit your mistakes, and start rebuilding our technology and manufacturing sectors!" --Mike Rivera

Well, Sputnik News is a state owned Russian propaganda organisation, so the spin is obvious.

However, this does show that US policy to try and engage and collaborate with Russia has backfired in that they have some dependencies on the Russian space industry. We can expect that the lesson has been learned and Russian space industry will be gradually side-lined as that problem is rectified.

As we move into the future, I think we can expect NASA and ESA / Europeans being closer partners as their joint goals of scientific exploration are more closely aligned. I would include in that mix other space agencies in the developed world.

To be honest, the Russian programme on it's own will be diminished by isolation.

a reply to: wasaka

Just for sh!ts and giggles, Russia should comply and stop selling the engines to the states. Maybe that way the NSA won't be able to put up any more damn spy satellites. And as the existing satellites start to fail, they won't be able to repair or replace them.

Cheers- Dave

a reply to: wasaka

Like there's nothing more important happening in the states just now.

I predict a rant about donuts on Monday, those pesky Russians hold all the secrets to the tasty fillings.....

America is Stupid !
just Look at the size of US?
they should be manufacturing every
thing they need and a Lot more.

it would make them the richest country.
and they could sell to the wolrd.
so why are they not doing this???

why are we ALL reliant on others to make most of the things we need?
I think its so we are week as individuals.
even people who do this for them selfs are not like't by the Gov.

I fail to see the problem here, a Cold War with Russia and a Space Race with China will totally change the landscape of our own space program. Just wait till Darpa unveils its space combat drones.

it all reduces to Globalization....

where each nation gets an equal slice of the pie...no more big-dog-on-the-porch hegemony...that policy is non PC

the USA got to the Moon because we refused gay marriage, sustainable minimum wage, too few immigrants with diseases and criminal records, etc. etc. etc.
but, Lo & behold, we got a national CEO now who is busy transforming the fascist state into something even more- dystopic...
American-Exceptionalism is considered repugnant...
instead the lowest common denominator is elevated to a National Milestone--we call it 'Common Core'
(it smacks of the failed 'Language' of street-people called "Eubonics" that was the rage with Libs and Obama Progressives not much more than last generation...)


ADD:

McCAin is a withered neo-con, not deserving of Office any longer... but he stacks up equal with the present occupier @ 1600 Pa. Ave.
or even with John swift-boat kerry

Well McCain could be have tried to avoid all of this but he chose to get rich by helping jobs leave the country. So he is as much to blame as any of them. Let alone all the military equipment that he and his friends sent around the world that is now being used one our own troops.

a reply to: wasaka
McCain doesn't even know how many homes he owns.

a reply to: St Udio

I'm shocked I tell you ...shocked!!...it's all Obama's fault, of course. those poor republicans in congress have been bashing big business for years to stay in America and create jobs, and Obama has derailed all of that....ok, just a touch of sarcasm

a reply to: paraphi

To be honest, the Russian programme on it's own will be diminished by isolation.

But you see , China is headed for space and have plans to build their own space station .With the help of Russians of course .The only thing space related in decline is US relations with a unavoidable other power/powers .The western Empire is in decline and by the time they pick themselves up they will never be #1 again .

While the west poured it's money into large battle ships to control the sea China and Russia were working on missile and rockets on land that can destroy those big targets floating . A simple stealthy sub with a sophisticated rocket and it's game over . Plus China/Russia's new silk road is on land and so a naval blockade cant work .

The TPP carrot wont work either despite it's temptation .The west has a history of non fulfilled treaties with the First Nations at home .What's the chance they will keep the ones with people they know or care little about . History has a way of catching up with the present and the US rocket history is just one small example .

a reply to: EA006

And the Chinese have containers full of donut-holes ...check ....:>)

a reply to: jimmyx

'globalization' started way before president 44

but he orchestrates the demise of this nation, including common-core, race-baiting every opportunity he gets to defame American exceptionalism as just monetary clout/bullying other nations with military might and financial leverage by the western finance systems now in place...
take off them rose-colored-glasses

originally posted by: St Udio

the USA got to the Moon because we refused gay marriage

I'm 99% sure that's not how it's done

a reply to: St Udio

I think YOU need to take off the Fox News glasses. It was the republicans that ran this country into the ground and gave away our jobs to overseas countries to make more profit from cheap labor. PC? Just something for righties to whine about and Race baiting? That's what every racist whines about. Americans are hardly exceptional anymore. We are beaten out in almost every arena. What do you expect from a country where a good portion of the country drools over a fake reality show called Duck Dynasty?

originally posted by: the2ofusr1
a reply to: paraphi

To be honest, the Russian programme on it's own will be diminished by isolation.

But you see , China is headed for space and have plans to build their own space station .With the help of Russians of course .The only thing space related in decline is US relations with a unavoidable other power/powers .The western Empire is in decline and by the time they pick themselves up they will never be #1 again .

While the west poured it's money into large battle ships to control the sea China and Russia were working on missile and rockets on land that can destroy those big targets floating . A simple stealthy sub with a sophisticated rocket and it's game over . Plus China/Russia's new silk road is on land and so a naval blockade cant work .

The TPP carrot wont work either despite it's temptation .The west has a history of non fulfilled treaties with the First Nations at home .What's the chance they will keep the ones with people they know or care little about . History has a way of catching up with the present and the US rocket history is just one small example .

I sure hope they are not putting all their hope in missles to defeat a fleet. Considering the type of defenses coming out that would be rather foolish. Of course the fact that China is building a fleet including carriers shows this is not the case anyway. And Russia and China? That is going to be the next big war. Unless Russia just roles over for China. Since while Russia is mired in Ukraine China is grabbing up Russia former trade with the Eastern republics for itself and Russia can not do much about it.

As for the OP, the entire reason we use Russian rocket engines is because after the Soviet Union collapse the US wanted to prevent the death of the Russian space program because that would leave lots or rocket experts with no jobs and people like North Korea and Iran hiring. So the US began using Russian rocket and sending the shuttle to MIR etc. The Russian engines may not be state of the art but what they are is dependable and cheap. The US could switch to something European, or build leased versions of the Russian Rockets in the US, and in a 7 or 8 years be back to just US engines but, you still have the same problem you started with. With the US buying the Russian space agency would be out of business and you again would have people who could go off and work for North Korea out of desperation.

China and India's space programs are mostly focused on just catching up getting to where other space programs were in 80's. While at the same time looking to make money in space market. While in the US it seems you will have NASA as the space exploring organization and private US companies as the commercial space types, putting up satellites etc.

originally posted by: buddha
America is Stupid !
just Look at the size of US?
they should be manufacturing every
thing they need and a Lot more.

it would make them the richest country.
and they could sell to the wolrd.
so why are they not doing this???

why are we ALL reliant on others to make most of the things we need?
I think its so we are week as individuals.
even people who do this for them selfs are not like't by the Gov.

The Lima Declaration of 1975

www.gwb.com.au...

Back then, the rest of the world looked at the USA and Europe in envy with all the technical progress they were making in aviation, housing, space technology and manufacturing. So we agreed to transfer 30% of our manufacturing to the developing world countries (China, India). We didn't anticipate that the exported 30% would compete, undercut and bankrupt the remaining industries, so they too ended up being offshored.

Once manufacturing jobs went, it was time to move back-end office work abroad as well, then call-centers, software and hardware engineering. When those went away, it was time to bring in workers.

a reply to: wasaka

Some kind of tantrum John? Awe. GM and Chrysler make such garbage that the tax payer had to pony up to even keep the doors open because even AMERICANS wouldnt but them. Cant make a tv set worth a damn. Americans simply arent smart enough. No bitching, look at the worldwide education stats. We are way down the list. We do blow stuff up and kill people with the best of them though. Cant have everything. The Chinese have been making rockets for thousands of years. I recommend those.

Part of the problem when it comes to the US developing and building a rocket engine has to do with how our space program played out. In the early days we used a capsule approach to re-entry, which had different requirements than the later shuttle-based re-entry system. We simply did not have the need to develop and build huge engines anymore. The biggest problem however stems from the fact that virtually all the knowledge from the 60's that was gained from experimentation has been lost. Recently a team disassembled an F-1 engine and digitally scanned every single component to build a digital profile. This has been the only modern effort made to understand the earlier technology, at least that I'm aware of. All of the documentation from the beginnings of the space program has been retained, but it is not the same as having practical experience, and quite frankly the documentation would not be enough to rebuild an entire engine.

And completely starting over seems kind of dumb, considering the time, effort, money, and lives expended to develop the necessary systems that took us to the moon. It would be extremely frustrating to have to do that all again. I should also mention that a main difference between the older engines used by the US and modern engines is the fuel source. Solid-fuel or hybrid rockets have seemed to replace the earlier liquid-fuel rockets. So part of what has been lost is how to make a huge engine that uses liquid fuel and oxidizer.

The steps that have been taken recently to understand the F-1 engine, which is insanely large and powerful, was a necessary prerequisite to gaining knowledge that has been lost, and from there building new rocket engines capable of allowing the US to sever ties to the Russian launches and become self-sufficient in that respect. The space shuttle is simply not the answer, which is partly why it was canceled. Going back to an Apollo-type system is the way of the not-too-distant future. I guess the only real point I wanted to make is that building a powerful liquid-fueled engine, which is what should be used, is not as easy as just "doing it." It will require an effort that many, including McCain, do not seem to appreciate.

John McCain is such a child. LOL I can't even take him serious anymore.