This commercial almost moved me to tears.

[TheFaithfulStone]

http://www.s2l.org/Videos/Reach.mpeg

 

Quicktime warning.

 

Awesome. I just discovered this recently, so I wanted to share.

 

TFS

[UncleAl]

Not A Space Agency with its Itanium-2 rebuilt obscenity of a supercomputer "Columbia" and already knowing the answer is wholly incapable of repeating what one brilliant Nazi and a bunch of gung-ho engineers with slide rules did from scratch. In 2006 the cost/gram of injecting mass into low Earth orbit with the reusable Space Scuttle is fully TWICE the cost/gram of doing it with a use-once-and-toss Saturn V, in constant dollars. The Space Scuttle's major payload is the Space Scuttle.

 

Sony, "The_Trip.asf" That is one bitchin' advert! Alana Davis breathily sings the Crosby Stills Nash & Young song "Carry On."

 

"When your kids ask where the money went … show them the tape."

 

Damn he looks happy. NASA is a puddle of political puke. Grandpa was boosted with a Russian heavy lifter.

[Pyrotex]

...Awesome. I just discovered this recently, so I wanted to share. TFS

wow...

just wow... :hihi:

[TheFaithfulStone]

We all know your feelings on the matter Al, but thanks for sharing.

 

TFS

[Queso]

Symbolic.

The kid wants the ball,

he grows up and is bored of the ball

so He rides rocket ships.

 

Awesome. Space exploration is Awesome.

But there's something about NASA that just pisses me off . .

I don't know,

I'm still very skeptical about their apollo missions . .

[Queso]

I found the commercial boring

but reminding

that they're still there??

[TheFaithfulStone]

I found the commercial boring

 

Really? I mean, I don't know about whether it was exciting but I thought it was one of the best commercials I've seen in a long time.

 

You know. I teared up a little.

 

It so awesome to be human. It's so freaking cool that we send stuff to Mars.

 

Imagination is everything - Einstein.

 

TFS

[Queso]

did einstein say that imagination was everything?

I remember him saying,

to my face,

"Imagination is more important than knowledge"

But would he say that it is everything?

I wouldn't . .

 

Ah,

I don't watch television.

Commericals are a waste of time.

Yeah it's awesome to be human,

and know that other humans are researching other planets

but I see it all in fast forward,

 

Just a bunch of crawling flesh-stars

flinging toward our Crescendo

so I dance and I sway when I'm alone

and lurking stalked streets.

Look at where I go when I ramble.

 

I liked the ball, I kind of want it too . .

[Stargazer]

Great commercial! However, NASA needs to change, and also they need to get the funding necessary to actually do all the stuff they should be doing. The government need to understand that a space programme is expensive, at least in the beginning, and that a space programme should be planned with longterm goals. Sometimes I think that a manned space programme is just another national prestige thing to shortsighted politicians. It really shouldn't have to be that way.

[TheBigDog]

Space is also expensive and dangerous. We need to accept the danger while taking precautions. But we cannot expect space exploration to come without casualties. We need to remove many level of beaurocrats so that people can do their jobs and things get done much faster.

 

We need men of action! Not men in meetings.

 

Bill

[Stargazer]

Exactly! We need visionaries, people who think outside the box. Funding for a proper space programme is necessary, and that means enough funding so that the space agencies can dare to test out new concepts and new strange ideas. Failures must be allowed to some extent when it comes to testing of new unmanned prototypes etc.

 

It's also important that the space agencies (NASA or ESA or any of the other) don't get stuck in one concept. If they want to try out different ideas, like reusable boosters and spacecapsules, or semi-reusable, or twostage orbital spaceplanes, or space elevators, etc., then they should be able to do that. There shouldn't be one single solution to all the needs one might have. You need a different spacecraft when going to the moon than if you want to go to Mars. Sometimes a small capsule lifted by a disposable booster is better than the huge orbital spaceplane to reach orbit.

 

As it is now, the space agencies are worried about failing to do the stuff they can barely afford to do anyway. I think one reason is that politicians and the people don't understand space exploration and colonisation and why we must do it. Many of them only see a huge waste of money. Funny. Half a trillion dollars in military spending is ok, but 17 billion to NASA is a waste... We need someone who is enthuastic about space exploration, like John F Kennedy. The advances in space technology during the cold war was sadly to an extent a product of the need to beat the other tribe. As if there are few other good reasons to go there...

 

Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, "Because it is there."

 

Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.

 

That we can support the moon landings, become impressed only for a short while, then shrug and go "meh" is absolutely unbelievable.

[TheFaithfulStone]

I agree completely.

 

NASA has made some mistakes, but that doesn't mean they're not a worthwhile agency.

 

The exploration of space is the most important thing we can do as a species. In 1,000 years, if we're still around, no one will remember 9-11, or Pearl Harbor, or whether the economy was good or bad, or whether Clinton had "sex" with an intern or just "shagged her rotten."

 

In 1,000 years people will remember the day we landed on the moon.

 

TFS

[Pyrotex]

I agree completely.

NASA has made some mistakes, but that doesn't mean they're not a worthwhile agency...

I work for a NASA contractor, and sometimes, I just dunno... :)

If NASA were led by scientists and engineers, we would have made a LOT more progress than we have.

 

The trouble is, NASA is led by politicians and bean-counters. Times are tough.

[TheFaithfulStone]

The trouble is, NASA is led by politicians and bean-counters. Times are tough.

 

Well, yeah. I guess, I should say - just because NASA in it's current incarnation is imperfect does not mean we should cut their entire budget and give 17 Billion dollars to Burt Rutan. (or worse, abandon space entirely.)

 

To paraphrase Winston Churchill

 

"NASA is the worst space agency ever, except for all other space agencies that have ever existed."

 

So, you know. Fix the problems, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

 

TFS