One way mission to the moon

[Deep Sea Isopod]

One way ticket to the moon!

[Coito ergo sum]

America won't do it, too risk-averse.

I'm pissed off because it's so true.

We were going back to the Moon....we had the program underway...we had new rockets...we had a new capsule...we had new lunar lander equipment -- the works....and for no good reason they canceled it.....

[Coito ergo sum]

China might do it.

So far, China has started up and canceled a lot of programs, but other than putting one guy in space for a few hours, they haven't done dick.

They've made announcements lately about getting guys to the moon by 2020 or 2025, and doing all sorts of grandiose exploring. I'm not saying they "can't" do it - I'm saying they haven't done jack shit, yet. And, they haven't. They've made gradiose claims about being able to go to mars in 2017, but they haven't even sent a space probe there yet.

But - needless to say - it still sucks ass that the States is just leaving the Moon for others. Canceling Constellation was fucking bullshit, and was a wrong-headed stupid-ass decision which the US will come to fucking regret if the Chinese really do get their space program in gear and start roving around up there. Fuckers. We'll dump a hundred billion dollars into the pockets of dickhead hedge fund operators and investment bankers, but it's too fucking much to spend on something real.

I'm so pissed off right now....

[Santa_Claus]

Send a woman.

Just tell her the moon has shoes.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Just tell her the moon has shoes.

If Ayaan reads that me and you are going to fight. Just sayin'.

[Meekychuppet]

China might do it.

So far, China has started up and canceled a lot of programs, but other than putting one guy in space for a few hours, they haven't done dick.

They've made announcements lately about getting guys to the moon by 2020 or 2025, and doing all sorts of grandiose exploring. I'm not saying they "can't" do it - I'm saying they haven't done jack shit, yet. And, they haven't. They've made gradiose claims about being able to go to mars in 2017, but they haven't even sent a space probe there yet.

But - needless to say - it still sucks ass that the States is just leaving the Moon for others. Canceling Constellation was fucking bullshit, and was a wrong-headed stupid-ass decision which the US will come to fucking regret if the Chinese really do get their space program in gear and start roving around up there. Fuckers. We'll dump a hundred billion dollars into the pockets of dickhead hedge fund operators and investment bankers, but it's too fucking much to spend on something real.

I'm so pissed off right now....

Did you see the state of US space exploration before the Moon landings? I wouldn't right China off on that basis. I don't think anyone will go, but if there is a 'most likely to' it would be China.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Did you see the state of US space exploration before the Moon landings? I wouldn't right China off on that basis. I don't think anyone will go, but if there is a 'most likely to' it would be China.

I don't think China will have a problem with taking even more risks than the US took in the Moon race. I wouldn't be at all surprised if their lunatics were ordered to make "I didn't make it, but the next brave Chinese astronaut will, so keep on trying while I lay here dying" videos before they go.

[Meekychuppet]

Did you see the state of US space exploration before the Moon landings? I wouldn't right China off on that basis. I don't think anyone will go, but if there is a 'most likely to' it would be China.

I don't think China will have a problem with taking even more risks than the US took in the Moon race. I wouldn't be at all surprised if their lunatics were ordered to make "I didn't make it, but the next brave Chinese astronaut will, so keep on trying while I lay here dying" videos before they go.

Quite possibly, but I just don't see why China would go. If its to assert some sort of dominance, they've already America by the balls anyway.

[Santa_Claus]

China is trying to get the US to outspend itself, much the same as the US did to the Soviets.

So far there cunning plan is working.........

[Atheist-Lite]

China is trying to get the US to outspend itself, much the same as the US did to the Soviets.

So far there cunning plan is working.........

Yes, good observation. We are going to set the Chinese against the Indians after America is sliced up. The sun never did set on the British Empire.

[Coito ergo sum]

China might do it.

So far, China has started up and canceled a lot of programs, but other than putting one guy in space for a few hours, they haven't done dick.

They've made announcements lately about getting guys to the moon by 2020 or 2025, and doing all sorts of grandiose exploring. I'm not saying they "can't" do it - I'm saying they haven't done jack shit, yet. And, they haven't. They've made gradiose claims about being able to go to mars in 2017, but they haven't even sent a space probe there yet.

But - needless to say - it still sucks ass that the States is just leaving the Moon for others. Canceling Constellation was fucking bullshit, and was a wrong-headed stupid-ass decision which the US will come to fucking regret if the Chinese really do get their space program in gear and start roving around up there. Fuckers. We'll dump a hundred billion dollars into the pockets of dickhead hedge fund operators and investment bankers, but it's too fucking much to spend on something real.

I'm so pissed off right now....

Did you see the state of US space exploration before the Moon landings? I wouldn't right China off on that basis. I don't think anyone will go, but if there is a 'most likely to' it would be China.

I haven't written them off.

It's just that, pre-Apollo 11, there was:

Apollo 5 and 6 - testing of the launch rockets -- China would have to do these kinds of missions to make sure their rockets are designed properly.
Apollo 7 - 11 day manned space mission testing the Apollo craft (once the rockets are tested without men, you need to test them without going to the moon, but with men on them)
Apollo 8 - first human spaceflight to leave Earth orbit - went around the moon (something the Chinese haven't done yet, but would almost certainly is something they would want to do before tackling a moon landing)
Apollo 9 - 10 day manned mission in space testing the lunar lander and command module, etc. (also something the Chinese planners will want to do first -- these things have to be tested)
Apollo 10 - manned dry run of the Apollo 11 moon landing - doing everything except land on the moon. (clearly something that would be done before a mission that actually lands on the moon)

That's just some of the Apollo missions. I'm not writing them off. I'm just saying that they really haven't done shit. And, they haven't. It's not that they're incapable of doing it - it's that they haven't done it. They have one man in space, and they have had many, many problems. If they're going to go to the Moon - if anyone is going to go to the Moon again - the program has to involve a series of test launches. Nobody is going to sign off on just building a great big new rocket and sticking a crew on top and flying it to the moon, and landing on it. Mission planners will want to go in steps, because to do otherwise is foolhardy, and it doesn't take 20/20 hindsight to see that if you could have launched an unmanned rocket first to test out some systems, but you chose to go ahead and stick humans in there, and something goes wrong, people are going to hold you responsible. And, if you haven't tested the command module or equivalent system in space without landing on the moon, and something goes wrong, then people will wonder why you sacrificed safety to avoid one or two extra launches. And, if you haven't gone around the moon to test the "get there and get home" systems before dropping the lander on the moon, people would be right to ask if unnecessary risk was taken.

Going to the moon is not routine. It is probably the most complex project ever undertaken by human beings. The Chinese are at step 1/2.

[Coito ergo sum]

Did you see the state of US space exploration before the Moon landings? I wouldn't right China off on that basis. I don't think anyone will go, but if there is a 'most likely to' it would be China.

I don't think China will have a problem with taking even more risks than the US took in the Moon race. I wouldn't be at all surprised if their lunatics were ordered to make "I didn't make it, but the next brave Chinese astronaut will, so keep on trying while I lay here dying" videos before they go.

Quite possibly, but I just don't see why China would go. If its to assert some sort of dominance, they've already America by the balls anyway.

The interesting thing is that the US and China have got a firm grip on each others testes. When one squeezes too hard, the other squeezes, and neither likes it none too much. It's a precarious balance. The problem for the US is that the US is on a downward curve, and China is on an upward curve, on a lot of factors.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

So far there cunning plan is working.........

Yep, that's why we're cutting NASA's budget and privatizing space, so we can spend more money on space programs.

Oh, wait...

[Santa_Claus]

So far there cunning plan is working.........

Yep, that's why we're cutting NASA's budget and privatizing space, so we can spend more money on space programs.

Oh, wait...

The budget for a moon shot might not be there (at the moment) but the space budget is still large - and money you don't have. but still feel you have to spend to keep up / stay ahead. and money spent on NASA is money that can't be spent to protect US interests on earth. same catch 22 that every empire has faced.

As long as the Chinese don't set their goals and plans out in 2 foot tall letters using a crayon then I suspect they will outwit the US......

[Gawdzilla Sama]

So far there cunning plan is working.........

Yep, that's why we're cutting NASA's budget and privatizing space, so we can spend more money on space programs.

Oh, wait...

The budget for a moon shot might not be there (at the moment) but the space budget is still large - and money you don't have. but still feel you have to spend to keep up / stay ahead. and money spent on NASA is money that can't be spent to protect US interests on earth. same catch 22 that every empire has faced.

As long as the Chinese don't set their goals and plans out in 2 foot tall letters using a crayon then I suspect they will outwit the US......

I suspect somebody has already been outwitted.