Subject:
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Re: Some good news for a change, maybe?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Tue, 22 Jun 2004 19:13:50 GMT
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Viewed:
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831 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Scott Arthur wrote:
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What else could he say? To go into orbit he’ll need a quantum leap in
technology and funding.
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NASA was sorta forced into cheating on that one. The Russians got the jump on
them, so they had to bypass the X-15 suborbital jet plane by outfitting nuclear
missiles with crew modules instead of warheads. The ironic thing was that the
X-15 was developed specifically with the intent of exploring the possibilities
of a recoverable/reusable spacecraft, and they basically put all of that on hold
for decades just to regain and keep the lead in the Space Race.
I get the feeling, however, that SS1 will actually be a source of new funding,
with deep-pocketed astro-tourists pumping large amounts of cash into development
of an orbiter system just to experience a few moments of true weightlessness (as
compared to the NASA trick of free-fall-inside-a-plane).
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Being cynical, I’d say SpaceShipOne is nothing more than another way for the
wealthy to waste energy. ;)
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It does provide a lot of new insight into what actually is or is not needed for
space-launch capability, especially with the new fuel source and the
self-correcting re-entry system (I bet the astronauts on Apollo 13 would have
appreciated having that available for theirs).
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