Orion: 10 years and counting (from original Constellation announcement), 1 uncrewed sub-orbital launch, approx. 8 years to the first crewed launch. 18 years from announcement to crewed launch.
The entire Apollo program: 9 years, including 6 lunar landings, 9 total lunar missions, 2 crewed orbital, 10 uncrewed orbital, 6 uncrewed sub-orbital. Also 1 catastrophic event/delay and 1 near catastrophic event which was saved by the ingenuity/resolve of the engineers.
I miss the 1960s NASA (except for the catastrophes of course).
It's easily The Killing Star by Charles R. Pellegrino and George Zebrowski. The earth is destroyed without warning by an alien civilization using relativistic kill vehicles, then they arrive to finish the job. The last two humans are captured as zoo specimens, and we find out the reason for the attack was simply that since we learned to travel at relativistic speeds we had the power to do to them what they did to us first. Nothing personal. Put me off sci-fi for a long time.
The one place where nanotubes might be of the most benefit is boosting the storage in ultracapacitors. The technology is making advances towards the point where they might match or surpass batteries.
Using the shuttle to retrieve the Hubble is a moot point anyway. The only shuttle capable of retrieving it was the Columbia -- all the other shuttle bays were reconfigured with equipment to enable them to dock with the ISS. The telescope won't fit with into the reconfigured bay.
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Orion: 10 years and counting (from original Constellation announcement), 1 uncrewed sub-orbital launch, approx. 8 years to the first crewed launch. 18 years from announcement to crewed launch.
The entire Apollo program: 9 years, including 6 lunar landings, 9 total lunar missions, 2 crewed orbital, 10 uncrewed orbital, 6 uncrewed sub-orbital. Also 1 catastrophic event/delay and 1 near catastrophic event which was saved by the ingenuity/resolve of the engineers.
I miss the 1960s NASA (except for the catastrophes of course).
It's easily The Killing Star by Charles R. Pellegrino and George Zebrowski. The earth is destroyed without warning by an alien civilization using relativistic kill vehicles, then they arrive to finish the job. The last two humans are captured as zoo specimens, and we find out the reason for the attack was simply that since we learned to travel at relativistic speeds we had the power to do to them what they did to us first. Nothing personal. Put me off sci-fi for a long time.
The one place where nanotubes might be of the most benefit is boosting the storage in ultracapacitors. The technology is making advances towards the point where they might match or surpass batteries.
Using the shuttle to retrieve the Hubble is a moot point anyway. The only shuttle capable of retrieving it was the Columbia -- all the other shuttle bays were reconfigured with equipment to enable them to dock with the ISS. The telescope won't fit with into the reconfigured bay.