The Shuttle was a MISTAKE?

[jordonj]

Interesting bit of history!  By the way Heretic, what's that sweet aircraft in your avatar?

[H]

... I think we had an American figure who had probably the same views as Von Braun did. I can't remember his name, but he succeeded in creating a liquid-powered rocket that launched from a A-frame.

I believe you are speaking of Robert Goddard:
http://www.time.com/time/time100/scient ... ddard.html

[Hagar]

Interesting bit of history!

Indeed. Most history is interesting but this is even more so as it's recent enough for me to remember most of it while it was actually happening.

[Woodlouse2002]

*PS. I suspect that Woody also watched it as that Tom Lehrer song he quoted the words of was featured in it. A cutting piece of satire that sums it all up perfectly in very few words.

Not only did I watch it, I told you about it too.

[Hagar]

Not only did I watch it, I told you about it too.

Shhh.....! Even a stuffy old git like me is entitled to a little poetic licence occasionally.

I'm glad you told me or I would have missed a very informative & interesting programme. Far better than the usual rubbish we're subjected to.

PS. One day I'll post a reply without a single typo. I will do it even if I die in the attempt.

[Woodlouse2002]

Shhh.....! Even a stuffy old git like me is entitled to a little poetic licence occasionally.

I'm glad you told me or I would have missed a very informative & interesting programme. Far better than the usual rubbish we're subjected to.

PS. One day I'll post a reply without a single typo. I will do it even if I die in the attempt.

Hehehe. No problemo.

[ATI_7500]

By the way Heretic, what's that sweet aircraft in your avatar?

Howard 500, from the freeware screenshots section.

[MattNW]

You know, is never crossed my mind if Christopher Columbos went through the same arguement we are going through right now. Interesting.

He probably did but back then you had to read your forum posts by candle light and to post a comment you needed a pidgeon and good supply of ink, quills and parchament.  ;D

My suggestion to the people who thinks space exploration is a waste is to give up the things we all take for granted that was derived directly from the space program. Toss out that cell phone, cordless tools, wide screen plasma TV, medical equipment, medicines, flight simulator programs, computers and the list goes on and on. Try a search for it on Google some time. so much that we have today has been a direct spin off of space exploration that if we threw it all away many people wouldn't know how to live.

[Hagar]

My suggestion to the people who thinks space exploration is a waste is to give up the things we all take for granted that was derived directly from the space program. Toss out that cell phone, cordless tools, wide screen plasma TV, medical equipment, medicines, flight simulator programs, computers and the list goes on and on. Try a search for it on Google some time. so much that we have today has been a direct spin off of space exploration that if we threw it all away many people wouldn't know how to live.

This goes back to my point on how many of these were actually a direct result of the manned space program &, if they were, how many could have been achieved without sending a man into space at all.

From your list, flight simulators with a full six-axis motion system & computerised visual display were already being developed during the 1960s, completely separate from the space program. My brother was shipping manager for Redifon (later Hughes Simulation) at Crawley at the time & I actually flew one of the darned things during a visit on their annual open days. Singer Link-Miles was doing similar things at Lancing where we both grew up.
As far as I know, the cell phone relies on communications satellites which had already been put into orbit & used before a man ever went into space. In fact, live TV images of the first moon landing were received all over the world using one of these satellites.

I don't know for certain how or when the others were developed so I can't argue on that but much of this seems to be a common misconception.

PS. The modern computer was developed from Colossus which was first used at Bletchley Park in Jan 1944, one year after I was born. http://www.picotech.com/applications/colossus.html

PPS.

if we threw it all away many people wouldn't know how to live.

I'm sure they would manage & they might have to again one day. I often think life was much better before we had some of these things. It was certainly far less complicated.

[RichieB16]

What is interesting to me is with all this computerized technology even in the earily 1960s, the early space capsules did not have any kind of onboard computer.

[H]

so much that we have today has been a direct spin off of space exploration that if we threw it all away many people wouldn't know how to live.

Which would mean there'd be little change .
Hmmn... eleven pages and we're still lost in space.

[JBaymore]

Richie,

One of the things that really hit me the first time I went to the Kennedy Space CEnter and looked a the exhibits....was that the hardware looked like the most PRIMITIVE stuff by todays standards.  Made you REALLY respect those guys even more.  Most of the electronics looked like a plue of crap.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that the LEM had a computer about the power of an Apple 64 in it.  ;D

best,

..................john

[JBaymore]

Hmmn... eleven pages and we're still lost in space.

[RichieB16]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that the LEM had a computer about the power of an Apple 64 in it.

Yeah, and the Apollo capsule-which had a much more powerful computer than the LEM-is weaker than an average graphing calculator today.

What I find amazing myself are the American Mercury and Russian Vostok and Voskhod capsules which were solely mechanical and electrical.

[Katahu]

A ship navigating in space without a computer. Now that's a amazing.

You have to have a predetermined set of calculations that have to be accurate to the minute [if not seconds] prior to a launch - pretty much like navigation equipment used by the V-2. If the calculations are wrong, your space man would either burn up in orbit [if the rate of descent is too high] or get stuck in orbit [if the angle ascent is too low and the time of thrust is too much] before the space man runs out of air and in later years burn up in the atmoshere. Excuse me if I'm wrong, I'm not a technical space man myself.