The Return of Apollo?

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?"

Comments

Yeah, well...

[corebreech]

...next time let's just stick a WiFi card in the thing and have it phone home, yes?

Re:Agreed, humans are ill-suited for space

[EvilTwinSkippy]

You could plug your mind into a nuero-interactive simulation that allowed you to pretend you were at home, living your life, and posting on slashdot.

Sure you wake up every few months, walk around the deck, and get poked with a few needles. But as soon as you get back to the simulation you pass it all off as a bad dream.

Re:Why not?

[EvilTwinSkippy]

A motor is heavy, requires fuel, which is heavy, and takes up space, which is scarce.

Really, you could retrieve the capsule with a fishing boat. No need for the fleet.

Re:Rich? Nah...

[EvilTwinSkippy]

Here Here. At least if the government sells my health records I can vote someone in who is going to fire them.

An HMO is answerable only to stockholders.