The Return of Apollo?

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Posted by michael on Tuesday September 9, 2003 @05:42AM from the flyboy dept.

hpulley writes "Bell bottoms are back, the Stones are still touring and Time has a piece on how NASA's _new_ space vehicle may actually be the return of a very old friend, a highly modified and modernized version of the Apollo Space Capsule. Manned spacecraft might actually leave low earth orbit again! Initially they'd fly with Delta and Atlas but more powerful boosters could be developed. We could go to the Moon again, and perhaps to Mars but I'm getting ahead of myself. Does that mean the last 30 years of space flight have been for naught? Expensive steps backward?"

11 of 653 comments (clear)

Re:Are you kidding me? by arth1 · 2003-09-09 05:44 · Score: 5, Funny

Didn't they just come off of serious embarassment with the Columbia disaster and now they are going to re-instate 50-year-old technology?

Just wait until you hear about their Icarus project.

Regards,
--
*Art
Retro is in.... by banzai75 · 2003-09-09 05:47 · Score: 5, Funny

First we bring back the Apple I, now Apollo. Please tell me disco isn't coming back too.
What? by teamhasnoi · 2003-09-09 05:47 · Score: 4, Funny

We've been to the moon? I thought Jonathan Frakes proved that it was a 40 billion dollar hoax!
Bad Decision by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-09 05:50 · Score: 5, Funny

Initially they'd fly with Delta

Bad decision. They should fly with Southwest or Jet Blue.

Avoid Delta. United too, for that matter.
Apollo? Deltas? by Cerberus9 · 2003-09-09 05:52 · Score: 4, Funny

Bell bottoms are back, the Stones are still touring and...

Oh, wait. For a minute there I was expecting this apollo.
The Return Of Apollo? by redtail1 · 2003-09-09 05:53 · Score: 4, Funny

Great idea. The Rocky franchise bottomed out after Drago broke him in that exhibition. I foresee dozens of Rocky sequels featuring Apollo and other members of the undead...
Two words by AtariAmarok · 2003-09-09 05:54 · Score: 4, Funny

As long as it is a one-way ticket....two words:

Lance Bass.

--
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Re:Disco by Soko · 2003-09-09 06:01 · Score: 4, Funny

*Ahem*

Can we embelish this a tad to add even more relevance, please?

T-shirt in 22nd century: "DiSCO _still_ sucks." (origionally from an old Omni magazine contest)

Soko

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"Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
Re:Why not? by tinrobot · 2003-09-09 06:08 · Score: 4, Funny

Well, they used to send an aircraft carrier loaded with about 5000 sailors and various support ships just to fish 3 people and a capsule the size of a Volkswagen out of the drink... that's pretty complicated and expensive.

I say the capsule floats... why not just put an outboard motor on the thing and drive it home? You could do some fishing while you're at it...

On second thought, maybe there's a solution somewhere in the middle.
Re:Are you kidding me? by corebreech · 2003-09-09 06:11 · Score: 4, Funny

Your multimillion dollar Boeing 777 aircraft still has windshield wipers.

Yeah, but at least they're high enough off the ground so that those damn squeegee guys can't reach 'em.

--
Is this truly the only Earth I can live on?
Space elevators? No thanks by AtariAmarok · 2003-09-09 06:18 · Score: 4, Funny

You will agree with me the first time you get on one and find out that the jerk who got off on the previous floor pressed all 677,803 floor buttons on the way out.

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Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.