Slashdot Mirror
Russian Supply Ship Docks At ISS
CryptoJoe writes "Space.com and CNN report a successful docking between the Russian-built cargo ship Progress 16 and the International Space Station (ISS). NASA had indicated that a failure of Progress 16 would lead to the evacuation of the ISS because food supplies are critically low."
If this is how we are going to do it, we should not be doing it. We should either commit the resources to do the project correctly or we move on to other needs.
Oh, let me guess - someone is killed in Iraq too? I don't even bother with the news anymore. It's way too predictable.
remember the shuttle burning up? Thats a major cause to why the supplies ever got that low in the first place.
nasa grounded all shuttle flights if you remember, and relied on the russians to send things up there.
I would wonder if scrapping this project really will get us back to the moon any quicker. Interest in space is nowhere near as high as it was back in the days of the Apollo landings, and it's efforts like the ISS that are keeping space in the headlines. Without headlines like this, most people would be entirely content to have humanity remain on Earth indefinitely. Or until a huge comet hits and wipes us all out.
Santa's suicide mission go!
I'm sick of people not seeing the good science that is being done by NASA as it is. Just because it may be more science-fictiony to go to the moon doesn't make it more valuable. We will go to mars (which would be alot more benificial than going to the moon) in good time. Until then let's work on the ISS.
"It is not how things are in the world that is mystical, but that it exists." -Ludwig Wittgenstein
Nasa and other such organizations are essential to the survival of the human race. Without a proper space program then people will never leaver Earth/ The Solar System and then when something goes awry you can wave bye to the human race. Now, seeing as you obviously have moral objection to NASA, let's make a deal. If earth is ever under threat of destruction and NASA offers you tickets on any life boat they may think up you have to give them to me so you don't violate your moral objection to a government funded space program. Agree?
Don't forget that our shuttle fleet is grounded.
John Susek
Indeed. But they should have evac'd or done something ASAP about it.
That's like saying you should turn around and go home because you see traffic stopped 2 miles ahead.
They knew how much food they had. They still had some left when the supply ship docked. Ergo, it wasn't an emergency that required evacuating the station.
I mean, what would have happened if the Russian Supply Ship (god forbid) went down?
My guess is that they'd do whatever it is they need to do to make sure the thing doesn't fall apart with nobody on it and go back to earth on the escape module. I doubt it was a coincidence that they had 7 days of food remaining when the supply capsule docked.
The crew aboard ISS would have been royally SOL (Shit Outta Luck).
They wouldn't have. The ISS itself would be SOL, but that's another story entirely.
Money that's taken by government inevitably has a sizable portion skimmed off the top to support bureaucracy. And there is little personal incentive in government for innovation and top performance.
So, the equations aren't equal.
Time and time again, the private sector has shown itself to be more efficient than the government (or any other monopoly, for that matter).
Even elements of government "run as businesses" don't function as efficiently as their private counterparts. If I have to get a package somewhere in two days, I'm not going to the US Postal Service -- I'm going to UPS or FedEx.
It shouldn't have fallen on Russia, Europe, or even China to be the "space rescuers", it should have been the US. It is really sad how far America has backslid in space exploration since the '80s.
Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.