Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Buy Yourself A Russian Space Capsule

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the go-on-you-deserve-it dept.

-Nails- writes: "Apparently there is a Russian space capsule for sale. CNN reports that the capsule that was used to make repairs to Mir and that it's for sale at The Space Store. If I had a few million just lying around I'd buy it. It would be fun to stick it up in a tree in my front yard." Actually, this would make a great treehouse, wouldn't it?

16 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. It would be nice if everyone could enjoy this. by Operandi · · Score: 5

    Does anyone think it would be possible for us to organise a community purchase of the space capsule and then donate it to a museum for everyone to enjoy? Post your comments and if there's a chance, I'll take the initiative.

    Regards

    1. Re:It would be nice if everyone could enjoy this. by ackthpt · · Score: 2
      There was a recent flap in San Francisco concerning the auctioning of a door handle from an apollo space capsule which a museum viewed as useless and taking up room and decided to discard.

      I dunno about you, but I just can't see a display of a door handle capturing that much imagination. But, hell, this is /. after all, who else is going to go out of their way to see something like this, but a true Nerd?


      --

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  2. Regulatory headache... by ca1v1n · · Score: 2

    The FAA and similar agencies around the world are just going to love this. It's bad enough that we've got people building rockets in their back yards. This reminds me of the expedition where a bunch of people died on Everest because they went up with no experience. It was just anyone who had a couple hundred thousand could join up for the thrill.

    On a side note, is it just me, or has it seemed like the Russians have been doing a garage sale lately? I hope the rumors about the nuclear fuel are mostly false, at least.

    --
    WARNING: there is a trojan on your
    1. Re:Regulatory headache... by John+Miles · · Score: 2

      This reminds me of the expedition where a bunch of people died on Everest because they went up with no experience

      That's funny. It reminds me of the expedition where a few early hominids climbed out of their tree and died because they tried to set up housekeeping in a nearby cave with no experience.

      Fortunately, your ancestors failed to dissuade the others from trying again.

      (Oh, and like Graham Chapman's ex-parrot, this thing wouldn't fly, blow up, or otherwise threaten what's left of your manhood if you put four thousand volts through it. It's a capsule, not a rocket.)

      --
      Dahlmann tightly grips the knife, which he may have no idea how to use, and steps out into the plain.
  3. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  4. Just 2.2 Million dollars! by WinnieTheShit · · Score: 3

    Cnn wrote: A unique find for bargain hunters everywhere: A Russian space capsule is going on sale at just $2.2 million. Only 2.2 million?!? What a bargain! Guess I can finally break my 50 million which I've been carrying in my wallet since I bought that useless particle accelerator...

  5. There is something sad about this. by edo-01 · · Score: 4
    In an age where manned exploration of space seems to have taken a slug to the guts since the Apollo days, there is something quite sad about seeing an actual spacecraft, the product of a once proud space program being sold off as "a nice playhouse for kids".

    The Russians used to have a fearsome space program, one that very nearly saw them reach the moon and beyond. Now they are so strapped for cash they are selling their spacecraft for treehouses (I know, whoever buys it will most certainly not use it as such and likely treasure it, and that's good) and willing to let some smarmy TV exec use their space station as the destination for first prize in a gameshow. Frankly I hope they de-orbit it first. When my grandkids ask me "so what was the first privately funded manned space mission?" I'd hate to have to respond that it was a "reality show" putting some clueless mugging idiot in space, so some TV network could sell primo advertising space to a bunch of softdrink and tampon manufacturers.

    1. Re:There is something sad about this. by Chairboy · · Score: 2

      1. The first privately funded manned space mission took place earlier this year when MirCorp paid for a pair of Cosmonauts to go up and begin refurbishing Mir for commercial use. It had nothing to do with Destination Mir.

      2. Why do you hope they de-orbit Mir first? Is it out of spite? That space station still has much use left in it, and you propose to throw it away? This sounds an awful lot like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

      Commercial space is the only way we'll get off this planet. If the price of the survival of the species is a Pizza Hut logo on the side of a spaceship, I'm willing to pay.

  6. Attention OSDN marketing by gad_zuki! · · Score: 3

    Junk that old-packard-looking-thing OSDN is giving away and put this baby up for giveaway. I can almost see the scripts now: create user, fill form, reply, goto begining. "Wow, 9 million more people signed up for the space capsule today, this Linux thing is huge!"

    1. Re:Attention OSDN marketing by gad_zuki! · · Score: 2

      Why they're all right here:

      http://retrofuture.web.aol.com/

  7. Ha! by The+Original+Bobski · · Score: 3

    You should have lived in Huntsville, Al in the hey-days of NASA. Surplus rocket boosters in the back yard was not an uncommon sight. Even as late as the late '80s (the last I lived there) a neighbor across the street had an old beat-up rocket engine laying beside his house.

    --
    satire, n: 1) witty language used to convey insults or scorn; 2) a form of humor lost on most slashdot moderators.
  8. But... by psergiu · · Score: 2

    ... Does it comes with assorted fungus ?

    --

    --
    1% APY, No fees, Online Bank https://captl1.co/2uIErYq Don't let your $$$ sit in a no-interest acct.
  9. If you are going to stick it in a tree ... by bob_jordan · · Score: 5

    You should also drape a parachute over it so, when you show new visiters around you can walk out into the garden and say ...

    "Where the hell did that come from!!!!"

    Bob.

  10. Headache...? by ackthpt · · Score: 2

    This is a descent capsule. I posted a similar article yesterday, with a link directly to the page, and mentioned it was for descent, but my article was rejected in favor of this less descriptive one.

    So, it's not like the buyer is going to slap down $2.2M and try to take off from Chicago, O'Hare on the commute to Zeeland, MI. It would only work for landing, as it has no engine, it's just a somewhat fireproof capsule plummeting in flames back to Earth (or land in Zeeland.)

    After This news it's probably not so surprising that the Russians always brought their capsules down on land, as they'd probably lose a lot of cosmonauts, by putting off recovery for a couple months.


    --

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  11. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  12. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2

    Comment removed based on user account deletion