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Russia Plans Its Own Moon Base
Socguy writes "After being rebuffed by NASA, Russia now plans to build its own moon base by as early as 2027. The nation now plans to send a manned mission to the moon by 2025 and establish a permanent base shortly thereafter. 'According to our estimates, we will be ready for a manned flight to the moon in 2025,' Roskosmos chief Anatoly Perminov told state news agency RIA Novosti. A station that could be inhabited could be built there between 2027 and 2032, he said. While Russia will be refurbishing existing spacecraft, the U.S. is taking a different approach after the space station is finished and plans to scrap the space shuttle program in favour of a new kind of spaceship to be called Orion."
Forget the unsolved problems - global warming, ozone holes, overpopulation, nuclear threat - here on Earth that should probably get US and Russian tax dollars before programs that probably will not deliver much practical benefits. Suppose a moonbase is really in the interest of humanity. Do we really need to build a dozen because US, Russia, China, India, Europe, Japan can not agree to invest a billion dollar-equivalents each instead of spending 10 times more money for separate bases? It appears to me that someone truly interested in human space exploration should become an expert in international politics and direct his/her talents in that direction before committing to reinventing the wheel many times over.
Guess it shouldn't be such a bad idea to have another space race. Look what the latest race gave us; Orbital grapefruits that went 'beep' and super-glue.
Break the sound barrier - bring the noise.
There's no doubt that they could do it but the question is why.
Those that say we have to get off this rock for the survival of the species are living in a SF fantasy world. Space exploration is great, but now we have bots able to do it for us. Why waste human life and spend trillions of dollars?
We could be spending all that money to stop global warming instead.
Let me tell you something Amerikansky,
Our Tupolevs are ready and willing, bring your stupid B2 Spirits, and we can make a good Cold War fight, ok?
Our nuclear cruise missiles are just itching to burn you down.
Go get your arse kicked at your Afghanistan: IRAQ!!!!
Your country is the one getting in shambles now, dear imperialist friend. Mostly half of your population is a bunch of Mexicans that don't even speak your own language, and can't even get a driver's license because of your nazi laws.
So, Comrade Putin is rebuilding our power and only you that live in your own closed down world of dreams, ushered by Mickey Mouse, can believe on your Fox News lies.
Get ready, first the Moon, then Mars (is the Red planet already...) and then the Earth, all under the red glorious flag of Lenin!!!!
"most industrialized countries populations are currently propped up by immigration." - I think you meant to say:
"most industrialized countries populations are currently BEING RUINED by immigration..."
We DON'T NEED to maintain our populations at the ridiculously high levels they are now. We need to stop the PARASITES from breeding, stop the CRIMINALS from breeding (who are also parasites, of course), and encourage only intelligent, attractive people to breed...
But I forget- the JEWS have been telling you, over and over, since you were born, that "We're all the same", so it must be true....
ASSHOLE.
Ever compared the amount of waste and fraud in the American system to that of countries like Norway, Germany or Austria? Apples to oranges, only worse. Our "welfare system", if you can call it that, has never been about helping people. The primary purpose of America's system is to keep people addicted to public funds, so they will continue to cast votes for the people who maintain the flow of money. "Great Society" my ass. In any event ... the funds for Norway, Germany or Austria's welfare systems still comes from the taxpayers, but I presume it's more efficiently utilized.
... it'll just get wasted or picked off for private use. Not much different than a typical third-world military regime receiving foreign aid shipments: the people it's intended to help never see much of it because the people in charge of it grab it first. So the countries sending it have to send even more, so that the trickle that gets through will do some good. Meanwhile, the government crooks who are stealing it get richer and consolidate their power. We have a much better system here in the U.S., because we allow private corporations in on the deal too.
That, ultimately, is the problem with large-scale use of public funds in any society that has substantial corruption within both the bureaucratic ranks and among the welfare recipients themselves (and that's not counting the crap that goes on at higher levels.) This applies across the board: education, medical care, everything. All these organizations want more and more money to "serve the public" and when they get it, they squander it. More spending isn't the solution
The problem is fundamentally cultural, not governmental or financial. Germany can get away with what they are doing because, other than certain specific forms of institutionalized corruption, their bureaucracy is efficient and more to the point, can be trusted. There are no such organizations in the United States that I would trust by default, because by default I don't particularly trust my fellow Americans. Not anymore. The "me me me" generation is running things now, and boy does it show.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.