Shuttle launch delayed - again...

[MultimediaMan]

The idea of a space truck is not a bad one: a better one is a semi-tractor trailer. The semi and the trailer are seperate, with separate delivery systems, which is what we have been talking about for a while now in this thread.

As far as retrieval of space cargoes is concerned, there ARE ways to do it: a (fairly) inexpensive RP or robotic Aeroshell to recover cargoes is a practical way of deorbiting satellites for repair or refurbishment.

Something has to be said about the way we currently get our spacecraft back: we do semi-ballistic or ballistic re-entries when we really do not have to. Yes, they are "elegant" from an engineering standpoint, but they are brutally unforgiving of hardware and software (navigational) failures.

NASA should spend time looking at non-ballistic orbital insertions (i.e. launches from high flying aircraft, Like Spaceship One, and the Pegasus Launch System), using longer deorbit burns for low to mid supersonic re-entry. With such a scheme, the use of exotic heat shielding materials could be lowered or possibly even eliminated, while increasing safety for crew and cargoes.

[xortam]

Space trucks ... reminds me of a Dennis Hopper Sci-Fi flick. Anybody seen "Morons in Outer Space"? I've seen bits and have recorded it ... hilarious. I've got to get around to watching the rest of it.

AFA romance and outer space (Barbarella?) ... I've still got a pile of newspapers I grabbed the day we landed on the moon. I wonder if they're still intact (at my Dad's house). I've got a somewhat romantic tie with space exploration since I worked part-time building satellites and space probes ... like Vygr for instance and the original Mars lander.

[KRSESQ]

I still have my reservation confirmation letter from TWA for my passenger flight to the moon. And gentlemen, I will expect it to be honored.

I saw "2001: A Space Odyssey" when I was 10. What's scary is that I understood it from the beginning and I didn't even have to be stoned. I knew intuitively what Kubrick was saying. It filled my head and my spirit with a vision of the future that has been gradually stolen away over the years, one bureaucratic bungle and bad policy decision at a time.

Dammit, I'm too old to be this f***ing cynical.

Kevin

[lecter]

It would be interesting if the Chinese come up with a usable design for space exploration...they really seem to be going at it nowadays. Not having tradition behind them, a "better than American", mold-breaking attitude towards this could come up with some fun results.

[conspiracy theory mode] How long will it take before the military discloses what they have up their sleeve in this field? I hope they come up with a new design soon so that the public can find out what they've been using for the last 10-15 years [/conspiracy theory mode]