newscientist.com — The die had been cast years before Apollo 11 had even reached the moon. In the budget debates during the summer of 1967, Congress refused NASA's request to fund an extended moon programme. What if things had been different that summer? Suppose Congress had granted NASA's wish, then fast-forward 40-odd years...
Jul 16, 2009 View in Crawl 4
ghostalkerJul 16, 2009
NASA passes that money on to private contractors, developers, and research labs, so in essence we'd be investing heavily in the private sector. Northrop Grumman wasn't that big before the Apollo program, but after that they've made aircraft carriers, B2 bombers, nuclear subs, etc. Not bad for using American labor in American-based plants (with a new one opening in Alabama in the next year).
pumpinethylJul 16, 2009
I thought the damn thing was made out of cheese?
localzukJul 16, 2009
Antarctica is a giant science experiment - not a place to live. We have no need to ruin such a vast untouched place, so why should we?
rogerstrongJul 16, 2009
Your post starts off with facts, but by the time you get halfway through the first paragraph you're spouting fiction.Here's a good write-up on the issue:<a class="user" href="http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/27jan_solarflares.htm">http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/27jan_sola ...</a>If the astronauts were out in their space-suits - and STAYED out, they would have absorbed a potentially fatal 400 rem. But inside their aluminum spacecraft, it they'd be exposed to just 35 rem. "the difference between needing a bone marrow transplant … or just a headache pill."A typical space suit, has only 0.25 g/cm2 of protection.An Apollo command module rated 7 to 8 g/cm2.The space shuttle has 10 to 11 g/cm2.The hull of the ISS, in its most heavily shielded areas, has 15 g/cm2.Future moonbases will have storm shelters made of polyethelene and aluminum possibly exceeding 20 g/cm2. Really - once we learned of the problem, we learned how to handle it. Radiation isn't magic.
cubicledroneJul 16, 2009
"The micro chip was invented after the apollow missions." No it wasn't. "The vast majority of the Internet revolution" The World Wide Web was invented in Britain. The Internet was invented in the 1960s. "IBM, Apple, Microsoft, Dell, HP, etc. represent one of the greatest sources of "stable, well-paid, career-track jobs" and global dominance that the world has ever seen." Microsoft fired five thousand people right after reporting a four BILLION dollar profit. Hewlett Packard has fired so many people they've lost count. Our technology companies employ so many temps, contractors, part-timers and outsourced workers that I doubt there is a single project they can claim was built by actual employees. All of the productivity gains this country has generated since 1972 have gone everywhere EXCEPT to the people to built them. Wages have been stagnant pretty much ever since Apollo. Nobody has any incentive to invent or build in this country because there are no rewards. Our entire working population is so underpaid and undercompensated its a wonder they show up at all.If you want to see how f**ked up things are, just look at Los Angeles. It's the #2 television market on the planet and it hasn't had an NFL team since 1994. What did that cost? $10 billion? At least?
bosskeyJul 17, 2009
"The World Wide Web was invented in Britain."Exactly my point. Many parts of the Internet might have been invented outside the USA, but it was the USA that synthesized it all, used it to establish dominance, and reaped the profits and benefits."The Internet was invented in the 1960s."Again, *exactly* my point. It was invented in the 1960s, but the exponential monetization of it didn't occur until the 1990s, well after the moon landings. You do need innovation to achieve such dramatic growth.
bshockJul 17, 2009
Yeah, Lunar City, great idea. Too bad breathing moon dust for an extended period destroys your lungs. It's like inhaling powdered glass.