Astronaut Wants Space Program With No Frills

colonist writes "A veteran astronaut wants less comfort and more exploration for future missions. British-born astrophysicist Michael Foale has clocked up 374 days in space, more than any other American astronaut. Foale said, 'We need lean and mean spaceships with no frills', such as toilets or kitchen. However, he would like better oxygen-producing systems for the space station. Foale also talked about the Russians: they played 'some sort of Russian folk song. I'm not so sure it calmed me a lot.' As Foale boarded the Soyuz, an official kicked him in the back: a Russian launch tradition. From space, Foale saw a large black cloud over the Middle East: smoke from a bombed oil pipeline in Iraq."

Comments

Well?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sice when did being able to take a dump become a 'frill'?

Re:strange imagery

[nizo]

Pretty good description of where our priorities (especially spending) are isn't it? Personally I would like to see more astronauts and fewer plumes of smoke.

Humans Need Confort

[Space_Soldier]

That is his opinion and he is entitled to it. However, humans like comfort, and humans bitch when comfort does not exist, especially on long trips. In addition, there are cultural differences between Russians and Americans as he pointed out. What might seem comfortable for the Russians might not be comfortable for the Americans, just like he pointed out the folk song. Some people can handle comfortless trips, while others cannot. Those who cannot must be mentally trained to do so. No one wants an astronaut to have some sort of breakdown because his toiled sucked his anus too fast, or that he cannot eat anything else but food from the toothpaste containers. Speaking in terms of weight, not having a toilet or a kitchen will not significantly increase the maneuverability of the International Space Station or a future spaceship. It will not make it lean and mean. The only thing that will do is new propulsion systems. -------------

Re:Humans Need Confort

[Paulrothrock]

That is his opinion and he is entitled to it. However, humans like comfort, and humans bitch when comfort does not exist, especially on long trips.

What history class did you sit through? It took about 60 days for the pilgrims to get to America. Imagine 102 people on a 90 foot boat with no shower facilities, rampant seasickness, scurvy and dysentery, and the only toilet facilities being the open sea. And when they get to where they're going, they have to start by building their friggin' houses so they don't freeze to death.

Now imagine walking 2,000 miles across harsh wilderness populated by people who will kill you as soon as trade with you, knowing that 10% of your party will die along the way. Surely nobody will want to go, right?

As for food, any long-term space trip will involve growing food, particularly a Mars mission. You *do* know that we grow food out of the dirt. It doesn't just appear on supermarket shelves. People will have to learn how to grow their food or they will *die.*

Also, any human presence in space will require that all people have a working knowledge of almost every system as well as how to make tools from local materials.

So, yeah, people now are lazy pigs who want to sit around all day and complain. But I, and I'm sure many other people, are willing to go and face the hardships. Some want to get away from people, others want religious freedom.

Sidenote: I don't think Al Qaeda would be trying to kill people if they had a way to move away from the influences they dislike.