Today is an important day - our future is in our hands

**RknRusty** Tue May 22, 2012 7:39 am

SpaceX launched it's Dragon capsule atop its Falcon Heavy rocket. It's carrying 7,300 pounds of cargo including food, clothing and experiments to the ISS. It launched from the Canaveral Air Force station early this morning. It will dock with the station's Harmony module after being grappled by the Canada Arm. After being reloaded, it will return to splash down in the Pacific Ocean. This is basically the same capsule that will be man-rated for astronauts in the near future, 3-5 years.

This is too cool. Next will be mining asteroids and other adventures that I can only hope I live long enough to see. It's only been a hundred years and change since we were simple agrarian laborers. In that short time, we have grown our technology faster than we've advanced our wisdom to handle it. We are going to not only need the unlimited resources our solar system offers, but the perspective that looking down on ourselves will provide. In my humble opinion, nothing is more important to humans, if we are to become the people we only aspire to be, than this-today's-first real push out, to do more than plant flags and make footprints.

No doubt we will carry our stupid squabbles with us. But I can't help but hope the perspective I mentioned, looking back down on the jewel we have, our world from where we all come, we will recognize our precarious existence and begin to be smarter and pull things together over the next 1000 years and beyond. To those who might stand in line to burst my bubble of sappy hope, I can't help that. Good luck in your future endeavors. We have to try. I'm all in.

EDIT: In case anyone missed it, my point is private enterprise is taking on the space industry. That's a good thing.
SpaceX, Space Exploration Technologies, is a California based company founded by a South African "Tony Stark-like" dude.

**RknRusty** Tue May 22, 2012 10:25 pm

Friday at 11:05 AM EDT it docks with the ISS. It should be on NASA TV.
After they splash down, they will recycle the Dragon and use it again. I can't find anything about a future launch schedule.
The Russians charge NASA $63 million for each launch from Baikonur. NASA provided Spacex with $400 Million in seed money to hopefully develop a reliable resupply program.

Jason_WI Tue May 22, 2012 10:31 pm

It was a sad day when the Orion program was canceled. Not to go back to the moon but to at least have a viable space program and be able to launch stuff ourselves without having to rely on someone else.

**RknRusty** Tue May 22, 2012 10:52 pm

Jason_WI wrote:It was a sad day when the Orion program was canceled. Not to go back to the moon but to at least have a viable space program and be able to launch stuff ourselves without having to rely on someone else.

That's why I'm so excited about Spacex. If they pull this off, it kicks the door in for a whole new era. They can take over the job of NASA's space trucking needs, while learning how to get to asteroids and gas giants and get every element on the periodic table. Make materials that can't be made in a gravity environment. Maybe tow asteroids to a Lunar orbit or a Lagrange point and park it there and mine it. Bring He3 back from the moon so we can finally have fusion energy. Refuel their asteroid survey ships with volatiles from the atmosphere of Jupiter... Science will follow eventually if they can build a financially stable foundation. Infinite mining potential without ever digging another hole in the Earth is a helluva good start. NASA's plan right now is to continue seeking out the secrets of the Solar system, and without the utilitarian burden of supporting their tinkertoy space station they will be more free to explore.

It ain't going to happen fast, but what's to stop it. Not Congress. How many could this new industry employ. It's inevitable. Hopefully it's just begun today. Or maybe ol' Rusty is just cracking up.

I should turn this into a poll: Is Rusty cracking up?
Yes
No
I don't know
I think he's just stoned

SuperDave Wed May 23, 2012 10:54 am

Considering the US government is broke the emphasis should be on private sector employment rather than more govenment employment.

All government can do is redistribute weath that it has taken from someone else.

PV Pilot Wed May 23, 2012 12:30 pm

,,as our paypal fees wizz above our heads at 18,500 mph.

Elon musk, co founder of paypal and co owner of Space X.

A multi country effort, since almost all of us have paypal fees.

nitroairplane Wed May 23, 2012 2:17 pm

Keith: it feels good to be part of it!

Ivanhoe Wed May 23, 2012 3:07 pm

Jason_WI wrote:It was a sad day when the Orion program was canceled. Not to go back to the moon but to at least have a viable space program and be able to launch stuff ourselves without having to rely on someone else.

Of course we no longer have the Cold War to give impetus to things like space travel, it was the "We must get there before the Ruskies" that got man to the moon in the first place. And then, of course, the actual landing was such an anti-climax compared with what science fiction had for years led us to expect! I well remember at the time, a friend of mine said "Now, if a little green man had popped out of a crater and blasted the landing module, everyone would be much more excited!"
Incidently, the computers that got men to the moon had far less capacity than the one I'm typing this on!

**RknRusty** Wed May 23, 2012 3:44 pm

SuperDave wrote:Considering the US government is broke the emphasis should be on private sector employment rather than more govenment employment.

All government can do is redistribute weath that it has taken from someone else.

I think I mentioned the benefit of a new private sector industry providing employment in the following statement. It wasn't NASA I was talking about.

RknRusty wrote:
...It ain't going to happen fast, but what's to stop it. Not Congress. How many could this new industry employ....

I meant it could be a huge new industry providing employment for... hell, I don't know, lots of people all over the world.

mitchg95 Mon May 28, 2012 12:56 pm

im happy to be related to someone that helps design stuff for NASA and has played a part in it for nearly 30 years, My grandfather Ronald help design some of the components that NASA used in the space shuttle like the exploding bolts that detach the Shuttle from the external fuel tank and the booster rockets Smile

**RknRusty** Mon May 28, 2012 8:10 pm

Working on NASA equipment would be a dream job.
They had to work through a few glitches Friday, but the Dragon successfully docked with the ISS. They unloaded it, not sure when they send it home. It looks like they're going to fast track the resupply missions. The rocket for a September launch is being assembled now, and another to follow soon after that.

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