Posted by Mark Davies-3 on
URL: https://www.shado-forum.com/Loss-of-Columbia-tp1499371.html

Michael Wolff wrote.

>With respect, Mark, I feel I need to disagree on that >point. The romance
>surrounding space exploration is still quite evident. If a >problem exists
it can be found in the way space exploration is handled >and funded.

Fair enough Michael.I think the massive technical problems,and huge costs involved
have killed off the romance about space exploration.It has also changed the confident expectations of the earlier years.For instance in the 1960's/ 1970's during the Apollo missions it was quite normal to think of putting a man on Mars by 1980.Even I can recall watching programs like UFO and thinking how easy and exciting it all was.Maybe a better way to express things is that we,ve lost our innocence.The reality of the challenge has now dawned on us.Visions like those in Kubricks 2001 of ordinary people being able to go to the Moon seemed very credible in 1968.

Maybe some important scientific discoverys await us that will re-kindle these expectations,like some new form of propulsion system,anti -gravity device etc.But until that happens we will still be burdened with massive technical difficulties and increasingly unberable costs.

Very much of topic

Mark UK






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