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Loaded, Low Mileage, Very Clean, A/C, Sunroof
Dan Hartung writes: "The Russian aerospace firm Energia is
auctioning off a Soyuz capsule used during the Shuttle-Mir mission (it took up the experienced crew sent to save Mir after the collision and decompression). The buyer gets to tour Russian space facilities and watch a launch, plus -- and you can't beat this -- shipping and paperwork are all free! Besides, it has only flown once: that's right -- low-mileage Soyuz."
- Pack your super-hero infant into it, and launch it towards a planet where the nearby sun doesn't negate his powers.
- Use it as a handy container for rakes, shovels, and other gardening tools.
- It would make a heck of an aquarium.
- Get it signed by world-famous Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Resell on eBay for twice the original price. [note: I'm not sure if Yuri is still alive. If not, consult your local forger.]
- Add a nuclear payload, and threaten to launch it back at Moscow if the world community doesn't come up with "One. . . MILLion dollars!"
- If you can hack it to run Linux, you're guaranteed to get on the front page of
/. !
- Fill with hot grits, wrap a big red bow around it, and leave it on Natalie Portman's front porch. If, like many slashdotters, she has a restraining order against you, you may have to have a friend make the delivery.
- Play "Lonely Cosmonaut Who Has Been In Space For Three Months Straight" with your S.O.
Oh, and before you sign anything, make sure you hold out for air conditioning, leather interior, and a spray bottle of "New Car Smell."Actually, we do. And not just to our "friends" either. Did you know that we supplied Iraq in the 1980s? We just offered a big arms package to Taiwan. We supply numerous third-world nations that we feel to be democratic or heading that way.
neither does china.
They gave all kinds of stuff to the North Koreans back in the 50s.
who is going to buy it?
Some nutty collector with too much cash and time on his or her hands.
Not some idiot collector.
Wait a sec...nevermind. Why not?
Probably, it shall be an intelligence agent.
No more than Chinese spies are trying to steal the secret to the Hula-Hoop(tm) or the Frisbee(tm) or Slinky(tm). The Chinese already have American space technology (Hughues and Loral, not to mention the stuff they've already stolen) what would they want with an outdated Russian design? Sentimental value for their dear departed comrades? I really think you're being a little too paranoid here. Not that there isn't some cause, but still...
First of all, as far as distributing dangerous technology goes, the Soyuz isn't exactly The Bomb. They've been used since the seventies, at least, and like most things in the Russian space program, have received upgrades over their long service life, instead of trying to come out with some next-generation superwidget that used 12 unproven technologies and consequently never gets off the ground (*cough*-X-33-*cough*). Frankly, the F-18s the Chinese are flying probably contain a lot more sensitive stuff.
Secondly, this is just a cool idea, and it's one that would have been rejected flatly by the bureaucrats at NASA. The Russian space program is actually embracing capitalism and trying to make a go of it as a moneymaking venture. Three cheers for them: at least they have the courage to try!
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
--
Throw in a bottle of Stoli, a mail-order bride, and a MiG fighter jet... and I'll take it for 90% of the original MSRP.
Oh yea... and LCD screens in the headrests, and a Playstation hooked up... and make sure the games include "Space Invaders". Heh heh.
I wonder if Max Ary reads Slashdot....
For those of you who don't know who www.comso.org is (the URL of the link above), the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space center is a space museum here in Kansas (Hutchinson, to be exact) that has the largest collection of Russian space hardware outside Russia itself. It's where NASA sends its astronauts to train on Russian space hardware, where Ron Howard and Tom Hanks went to get the space hardware for their movies, where just about every museum in the world sends their space hardware for preservation work.
I'd always said that I expected Max to be out in the Pacific with a big catcher's mitt when MIR came down. I wouldn't be too surprised if Max got in on this bid.
Assuming, of course, that it is real, and not a hoax...
www.eFax.com are spammers
"Mostly highway miles"
hehe
-Chris
When will the Americans learn?
---
Along the way, he compared American & Russian technologies...
From what he told us (as well as others' comments - above & elsewhere), I'd say that:
Russian technologies are to their American counterparts as Linux is to Windows...
the former is cheaper & more reliable, if not necessarily State of the Art.
Tell me - which would you want your Life to depend on? ;-)
Probably not a problem: it's not a rocket, just a capsule. Even if it was a rocket, I doubt the "spooks" would care....
When I was being interviewed by the ATF for my explosives permit (needed for little rockets,) the agent ran over the import rules (nice, smart guy, he knew Russian rockets were selling cheap). Basically, he said: as long as the rocket has less than 25 tons of fuel in it, and you have a place to store it, wave this permit and it's yours!
Aside from that where the hell would you keep it? I can see a company purchasing it to throw in their building's lobby, I can even see NASA buying the rocket to get an insight into Russian based tech in some fashion, but the typical art collector?
It's only 10 feet or so wide. Would easily fit into a Manhattan loft. "Have you every made love in a space capsule" probably won't get you laid... but 40 years later there will be 50 grandmothers in New Jersey telling their grandkids "I once had the chance to have sex in a Soyez capsule. I can't believe I turned it down!"
Or maybe not.
Museums. Did you read the article? I wonder how many museums can afford the estimated $2 million + price though. Maybe Bill Gates will buy it and put it in Microsoft's lobby.
Need XML expertise? crism consulting
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Think maybe they can crank the odometer back a few orders of magnitude?
--
Dyolf Knip
"My Uncle went on the ISS and all I got was a lousy Soyuz capsule."
Curious__George
***General Consultant to the Human Race*** My opinions are free. You get what you pay for.
Its rather ironically sad it has to be sold, and you have to wonder if Russia is that desperate for money.
The capsule is being sold by an American and Russian company, not the Russain Space program.
From the article:
"This sale is part of an agreement between Space Media Inc. and the S. P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia (RSCE). Space Media and RSCE are promoting both American and Russian achievements in and contribution to peaceful space exploration."
And as for the customs issue (again from the article):
"The successful buyer should allow up to 24 weeks for delivery to allow for the necessary packing, shipping and customs paperwork requirements to go through official channels. "
So it doen't surprise me that someone might want a Soyuz
Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Link
I'm not sure if Yuri is still alive. ;-)
Yuri died in a test-plane crash some years later, so if you could get his signature on that capsule you'd have really worth something.
Besides Google is your friend on this one: I found a short biography in less than two minutes
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
Do.....you talk......like Captain Kirk in.....real life...or do you.......just type that........way?
Gee, that would fit great. The Russian Space Program was just like Microsoft. Bloted, inefficient, and always behind schedual! :-)
Disclaimer: I can't spell worth a shirt.
This has been another useless post from....
Killfile(TGK)
No trees were killed in the creation of this post. However, many electrons were inconvenienced.
"Moon roof all leather interior. I got it at a very good price, I paid cash. My cousin, Prince Murray, has a dealership in the valley. He was very nice to me." -King Vespa
Its rather ironically sad it has to be sold, and you have to wonder if Russia is that desperate for money.
Sounds all nice and dandy for now, but I can see the legalities coming into play should someone in the United States purchase it. All those Custom's forms, paranoid spooks wondering why your buying a rocket, etc.
Aside from that where the hell would you keep it? I can see a company purchasing it to throw in their building's lobby, I can even see NASA buying the rocket to get an insight into Russian based tech in some fashion, but the typical art collector?
Either way though I wonder if the sale is to raise money for their already poor economy, which makes me wonder, who will be the first to raise that sub that recently sunk.
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360 degrees of Karma
It's tempting to buy a piece of history (these things have been flying since the 60's), I'd be even more tempted if they included a Proton rocket to put it on top of.