the dirt and the stars
Feb. 1st, 2003 04:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coyotegoth...and as I meet Andy, he says, "Did you hear about the Columbia?"
I had just run into![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
reive, and had a very pleasant conversation; had I not been so out of it, I doubtless would've had heard by then, and discussed it with her, as we are both space program aficionados. I am sad that it happened; I am bothered that I'm actually thinking at least as much about how NASA will replace the shuttle, as I am about those seven brave souls; I am trying not to think about how briefly this will focus people's attention on the space program, in all the wrong ways (no, this doesn't mean we should postpone further launches; no, it wasn't terrorists); trying not to think of how we could have a space program that does things for, say, what we spend on cosmetics each year; trying not to think about how we'll soon be spending money on war that could be used for space elevators. Launching lasers. Finding ways to get a pound of payload into orbit at a cost that makes commercialized space travel viable. Trying so, so hard not to think of Jerry Pournelle's quote:
"I always knew that I would see the first man on the moon. I never dreamed that I would see the last."
In the name of all that is dear and holy, why are we squabbling in the dirt, instead of reaching for the stars?
I had just run into
reive, and had a very pleasant conversation; had I not been so out of it, I doubtless would've had heard by then, and discussed it with her, as we are both space program aficionados. I am sad that it happened; I am bothered that I'm actually thinking at least as much about how NASA will replace the shuttle, as I am about those seven brave souls; I am trying not to think about how briefly this will focus people's attention on the space program, in all the wrong ways (no, this doesn't mean we should postpone further launches; no, it wasn't terrorists); trying not to think of how we could have a space program that does things for, say, what we spend on cosmetics each year; trying not to think about how we'll soon be spending money on war that could be used for space elevators. Launching lasers. Finding ways to get a pound of payload into orbit at a cost that makes commercialized space travel viable. Trying so, so hard not to think of Jerry Pournelle's quote:"I always knew that I would see the first man on the moon. I never dreamed that I would see the last."
In the name of all that is dear and holy, why are we squabbling in the dirt, instead of reaching for the stars?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-02-01 02:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-01 03:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-01 03:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-01 05:37 pm (UTC)1.) Humans are very territorrial. I am very certain that if we were to colonize the Moon through cunning usage of flags, there would be more war. And I shudder to think of the possibilities of interplanetary settelment. Remember, most sci-fi involving humans in space had an Earth that was a hegemonious world government. We've got a ways to go....
2. There's no profit in it. That fact alone prevented a lot of commerce back when going fifty miles from your village was a completely different world, and it still holds true today. The cost of exploiting off-planet resources is too damn staggering, and we still have plenty here to squabble over. (I won't even make an Iraq reference)
3. The war for near space is still alive and well. I'll have to look for it, but there was a Wired article that outlined the US' outline for achieving orbital space supremacy. What's even better is that our rivals up there is EUROPE!!
To summarize, we're just not ready. Yet.
Space... the final front...hmmm.
Date: 2003-02-01 11:43 pm (UTC)Re: Space... the final front...hmmm.
Date: 2003-02-03 05:30 am (UTC)At least we know we can do it....
no subject
Date: 2003-02-01 06:27 pm (UTC)Nice to meet you; sorry for the circumstances.
*cries*
Date: 2003-02-01 11:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-01 11:45 pm (UTC)