Quote from DevilDare :

Oh dear...

Air conditioning the military alone costs more than the entire annual NASA budget.

Good sire, you failed, quite miserably.

What a coincidence, I read an article which mentioned the same fact like two days ago.

To anyone who's interested in what's in developement, cancelled, proposed, you name it, here's a quite a nice overview - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L ... ate_spaceflight_companies

And here's something interesting aswell - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_rocketplane

The Lynx is interesting, but it is also a suborbital spaceplane...there's a reason the shuttle has those big boosters and that huge tank, plus the thermal protection.

oh don't get me wrong there are a lot of US federal programs that should be nixed entirely, NASA is just the easiest one to lose because honestly the private sector should have taken over their responsibilities a long time ago.

Tomorrow is the very last landing of a space shuttle ever, planned at:
5:56 a.m. EDT
10:56 a.m. BST
11:56 CEST aka CEDT

STS-135 Mission, Launch and Landing page:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/launch/index.html


Live video streams:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ustream.html
H.264/AVC @ 1280*720
Average bitrate 1000 Kbps
Sharp image but only 15 FPS

http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1368163
WMV3/9 @ 640*476
Average bitrate 1200 Kbps
Blurry image but 29.97 FPS

http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1368570
Same as the previous one but at 400*300
Average bitrate 500 Kbps

http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1369080
Same as above but at 320*240
Average bitrate 300 Kbps

Quote from flymike91 :

oh don't get me wrong there are a lot of US federal programs that should be nixed entirely, NASA is just the easiest one to lose because honestly the private sector should have taken over their responsibilities a long time ago.

Should disappoint you to hear that NASA actually has a budget increase for next year, then.

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

Should disappoint you to hear that NASA actually has a budget increase for next year, then.

Exactly what I never understood... where IS that money going to go? Oh course, we have to pay Russia to use their space craft (correct me if I am wrong)

What about the xxxx billions (not even kidding here) dollars USA owns other countries? The money could be used to pay depts.

Quote from Lotesdelere :

Tomorrow is the very last landing of a space shuttle ever, planned at:
5:56 a.m. EDT
10:56 a.m. BST
11:56 CEST aka CEDT

STS-135 Mission, Launch and Landing page:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/launch/index.html


Live video streams:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ustream.html
H.264/AVC @ 1280*720
Average bitrate 1000 Kbps
Sharp image but only 15 FPS

http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1368163
WMV3/9 @ 640*476
Average bitrate 1200 Kbps
Blurry image but 29.97 FPS

http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1368570
Same as the previous one but at 400*300
Average bitrate 500 Kbps

http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1369080
Same as above but at 320*240
Average bitrate 300 Kbps

:bump:

She just landed, farewell Atlantis and other shuttles! :/

Disappointed I'll never get to go to a shuttle launch but so glad I was able to watch the last landing as it happened, and that all went well.

Will any long distance crew capsule + rocket combination ever be as "cool" as the space shuttle though...?

I also watched the last start, last landing and seen the last photos from ISS. Ending of US space shuttle era makes me sad; because those machines had twice as much awesomeness as nyan cat, there were no other space shuttles except Buran, which...was to space totally once and then was destroyed in its own collapsed hangar and also because during all those decades US did not invent anything more suitable for these days, rather spending money on colonizing Middle east.

So now we have to wait for few years until private sector starts its own space program. I guess that will be the only option US then. Russian still have their tiny but reliable Sojuz capsules.

Quote from majod :

I also watched the last start, last landing and seen the last photos from ISS. Ending of US space shuttle era makes me sad; because those machines had twice as much awesomeness as nyan cat, there were no other space shuttles except Buran, which...was to space totally once and then was destroyed in its own collapsed hangar and also because during all those decades US did not invent anything more suitable for these days, rather spending money on colonizing Middle east.

So now we have to wait for few years until private sector starts its own space program. I guess that will be the only option US then. Russian still have their tiny but reliable Sojuz capsules.

To be honest I'd be much more looking towards the spaceplanes developed privately and designed to dock with the ISS, like the Dream Chaser, for example. IMHO things look hopeless right now, everything that's being developed involves a capsule or atleast some sort of a crew carrier that is small and reliable.(except for that X-37, but it's unmanned). If the US will come up with a successor to the Shuttle which has the same capabilities then I'll eat my own hat... Though I really hope they do, it's sad to see them retire!

For me, Buran is much more interesting and awesome than Shuttles. Too bad it ended up like that...

There are two prototypes of Buran still not crashed, one with airplane engines, built for training purposes, parked in Baikonur, and another one, half built, without wings, covered with huge tarpaulin, in Moscow. All of them are visible in google earth, even the original one, with it's broken hangar. But I doubt any of them will be flying again

Quote from The Very End :

What about the xxxx billions (not even kidding here) dollars USA owns other countries? The money could be used to pay depts.

Exactly... this isn't post WWII when places need rebuilt... Terrorists might become more prominint if we cut aid to these places? Er... most of the governments waist that money just the same as what we waste half of our's.

Quote from KiRmelius :

For me, Buran is much more interesting and awesome than Shuttles. Too bad it ended up like that...

There are two prototypes of Buran still not crashed, one with airplane engines, built for training purposes, parked in Baikonur, and another one, half built, without wings, covered with huge tarpaulin, in Moscow. All of them are visible in google earth, even the original one, with it's broken hangar. But I doubt any of them will be flying again

And one is here in Speyer, Germany
Technic Museum Speyer

The best thing about Buran was that it's design program gave us the Antonov 225.

I'm torn on privatizing space. On one hand its one more thing the citizens don't have to pay for, on the other, private companies are not satisfied with scientific endeavors in space. They will require a commercial incentive to fund missions, and the current scientific community is unable to privately fund deep space missions.

When the government pays for missions, the costs always overrun by millions of dollars, of course that is not acceptable for private companies. but what is the commercial incentive? We're a long way from asteroid mining, but that would be very cool.

Quote from Crashgate3 :

The best thing about Buran was that it's design program gave us the Antonov 225.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wi ... f/Buran_On_Antonov225.jpg

Awww, they two look so cute together...!