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More on the Orbital Space Plane

Posted by michael on from the now-30%-less-likely-to-explode dept.

AP has a decent piece looking at NASA's orbital space plane program, and describing it as a sedan compared to a tractor-trailer. National polls show that public support for the space program continues to be very strong.

11 of 317 comments (clear)

  1. Why settle for a sedan? by mdvolm · · Score: 5, Funny

    I, for one, would rather see NASA go with the "overpowered sports-car" model (AKA Ferrari). Those pictures of the "sedan" models aren't nearly sleek enough.

    Let's build a Star Wars style ship and paint it Empire black! Yeah! Now that would increase the support for the space program. It's all about marketing...

    1. Re:Why settle for a sedan? by grub · · Score: 5, Funny


      They only have to be sleek for entering atmosphere. I'd like to see a real Borg-like cube with the NASA logo on the side.

      --
      Trolling is a art,
  2. Maybe NASA could... by Kotukunui · · Score: 5, Funny

    enter this design in the X-prize competition and win themselves $10 million.

    1. Re:Maybe NASA could... by Squareball · · Score: 3, Funny

      Or in other words "enough money for a new men's room toilet seat" in government dollars that is ;)

    2. Re:Maybe NASA could... by tftp · · Score: 2, Funny

      It will cost NASA $10 million just to file the paperwork :-(

  3. Re:60% huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I guess people are more interested in creating things that will benefit mankind than bomb another nation in the OPEC region.

    come on, now, be serious. there's no reason we can't do both.

  4. Re:Not a shuttle replacement by dkf · · Score: 3, Funny
    What they should do is [...] have the humans do what they need to do to the payload once it is in space (such as [...] activation).
    Surely they could type the numbers in from the front of the printed manual before they launch the equipment into space? It's not exactly rocket science...
    --
    "Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"
  5. Maybe they are suffering from penis envy.... by LordChaos · · Score: 4, Funny

    From the article:

    "We're doing everything we can to get it up by 2008"

    Have they tried viagra??

  6. Re:Energia and the buran... by DerekLyons · · Score: 2, Funny
    What about the USSRs Energia and Buran Launch and orbital system??
    Niether one is in service, or ever was in service. Neither one was developed completely. Both were abandoned over a decade ago. They are ex-parrots.
  7. Re:De-orbit the ISS NOW while you still can by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Making tables out of duct tape, starting fires, posing for the tv camera, fucking up scientists' experiments, getting married in space, and looking out the window is considered preparing for a trip to Mars? Let's hurry up and nuke ourselves out of existence now before we leave evidence we existed on other planets then.

  8. "Hey Chuck ..." by bigsteve@dstc · · Score: 2, Funny
    (With no humans aboard, the craft could be used to haul light cargo to the orbiting lab.)

    " ... its your turn to ring down for a Pizza!"