A Question about the Space Program

Please excuse my apparent ignorance with this question, but I figure this is the best place to ask to get the best answer.

I am curious about something. If we are not going to send any more shuttles up, what happens with the space station? How are the men and women going to get there and or back?I know the russians will probably still have their way of getting there, though Im not real clear on their space program either.

Now if I recall correctly, they said somewhere along the line that it would become more of a public sector?

Which in turn leads me to another question. If this is the case, wouldnt it open more doors to what may really be going on out there without Nasa's interference of keeping things secret? If it is a public sector conducting the operations how are they going to keep a lid on sightings, personal experience, or photos etc.? Almost seems exciting to me with this door left open if you follow my thinking here.

Maybe I have this all wrong in my understanding of it which of course leads us right back to why Im here in the first place!

Thanks in advance for any answers for clearing this up for me!

I also find it hard to believe that NASA is bailing out of this. Sure, we can use Russia to get us to and from the ISS but I have problems believing that NASA does not have anything to replace the heavy lifter that the shuttle is.

It doesn't fit the elitist agenda to explore space. Plain and Simple.
They need that money for the military-industrial complex. Don't think the black military programs have stopped, I'm sure weaponizing space IS part of the agenda.

reply to post by Skewed


I agree with you. It does seem odd that they would be "finished" as it appears now. Makes you wonder what the back up plan is. They must all ready have something to bring on line relatively soon I would think. The question is what is it?

They created a new rocket program based on a spruced up Apollo rocket that will be taking over the duties of the shuttle. (including rendezvous with the space station)

I maintain that the real space program is not the public one (just my guy instinct), which is why they really don't care about cutting funding in that regard. They want to spend as little as possible on the cover story (public space program).

reply to post by pirhanna


Unless NASA is changing its role, which we may or may not know, but how do we plan on getting things up there that are the size of a bus? As far as I know, there is not a rocket big enough to handle those sorts of things.

I believe there are some currently in power who do not want the US to be the leader in manned space exploration, or even believe that the US simply does not deserve to have that role and that space exploration should be put on hold until every societal issue on earth is solved (in other words, forever - we would only "contaminate" other planets). Our current plan is to rely on the Russians for access to ISS until SpaceX's dragon module is ready. Even then Dragon will only provide unmanned cargo access while the soyuz will still be needed for manned access, at least until a manned version of DragonX can be developed. NASA is not deliberately censoring anything about space or space aliens, which is why no one is doing anything to stop SpaceX or Virgin Galactic from making space access available to general citizens outside of NASA or any other national space agency. In the meantime, however, China and other nations have ample time to beat us back to the moon and try to make Helium-3 into a useable fuel source. My biggest concern for the private companies is that the first accident that takes the lives of a human crew will result in huge crackdowns and layers of red tape under which they couldn't possibly thrive. There is no room for mistakes here.

NASA should be used, in my opinion, to establish infrastructure to pave the way for private operations. They should be paving the roads of space, in a manner of speaking, but in a way that lowers the cost and eases the technical hurdles for private endeavours whether for tourism or even mining. The soil and rock samples brought back by Apollo may reveal a way to generate fuel or oxygen on the moon using solar powered equipment (indeed the recent discovery of potential significant water ice deposits within permanently shadowed craters points to a possible source of hydrogen and oxygen that could be used for both). If they could then establish a "fuel" or "oxygen" station on the moon it would make it far easier for private operators to make it there and back without bringing everything with them out of earth's gravity well.

reply to post by ngchunter


Thank you for that great reply. I have a question. How long are the folks that are up there now stuck for? I mean how long before something new comes online to get them back and a fresh group up there? Are we totally relying on other countries after this shuttle mission comes back?

Simply put, we don’t need to launch cargo as large as the Shuttle bay has anymore. The ISS needed the Shuttle. Now that it’s finished so is the Shuttle.

Future ISS crews will use the three person Soyuz craft.

Unmanned spacecraft will bring up cargo. Once unloaded they fill it with their trash and let it burn up in the atmosphere.

The Shuttle was supposed to be cheaper than the disposable rockets but it turned out to be many times more expensive.

Nasa had a replacement rocket in development but cost overruns and design problems lead to the president de-funding it (canceled). The next American rocket will be privately developed Dragon/Falcon system. Hopefully private will end up cheaper.

As to the conspiracies concerning space. There are no super secret bases or little green men. Just spy sats looking down at the Earth. Amateur astronomers have photographed everything launched from Earth. Even the newest X37b. After a couple of weeks we know the orbit and can predict where and when YOU can see it. Based on the orbit we can surmise its mission.

Originally posted by onehuman
reply to post by ngchunter

 

Thank you for that great reply. I have a question. How long are the folks that are up there now stuck for? I mean how long before something new comes online to get them back and a fresh group up there? Are we totally relying on other countries after this shuttle mission comes back?

Everyone who's stationed at ISS currently is going to use a soyuz to get back. The last shuttle mission to transfer an astronaut to or from the station already flew and brough Nicole Stott back (she's now flying one last time with Discovery as a matter of fact).

NASA has established an ISS National Laboratory. This is a multiNational collaboration. It's going to be managed by a consortium of private research and management companies and I am on the proposal team putting together a bid to manage the lab with two other companies as our team. It's due March 15th pending no extensions. Not at liberty to talk about details but NASA will be more closely collaborating internationally to continue R&D on the ISS.

ISSNL's 5 research pathway categories are Plant and microbial, Human, animal and cell biology, Applied physical sciences, Fundamental physical sciences, and Earth science and remote sensing. Take that for what you may.

Here's a NASA link on the ISSNL.

www.nasa.gov...