What if NASA launched a rocket as big as a Saturn V and nobody cared?

[sevenhelmet]

As expensive as the shuttle program was, we still did get hubble out of it.

Hubble, and a ton of other valuable science, which has directly benefited the computing, medical, and aeronautical industries. Space has been good for a lot more household tech than just Velcro. The old, tired, argument that "messing around in LEO" is a waste of time doesn't hold water against all the things we have learned from the shuttle and ISS programs. While I agree the shuttle didn't live up to the original expectations (and was criminally mismanaged by NASA), it had a lot of things going for it, including payload capacity and large payload bring back from space, something which no other vehicle offered in history.

However, Orion is what we have now, and I'm happy to see it doing well. I can only imagine what we would learn from exploring to an asteroid and/or Mars. The science and the human aspect of having something worth striving for make it more than worthwhile, in my opinion.

 

[squeeze]

The STS was a waste of money and 40 years of engineering talent.

This may be the single stupidest comment I've read on AW... and that's saying something. So... congratulations I suppose.

 

[707guy]

We watched it all day at work via NASA TV. When the feed worked... THAT's a question - how can you get telemetry from something 3600 miles away from the earth yet a decently working internet stream is beyond the capability...

 

[Flash]

We watched it all day at work via NASA TV. When the feed worked... THAT's a question - how can you get telemetry from something 3600 miles away from the earth yet a decently working internet stream is beyond the capability...

Money, "No bucks, no Buck Rogers".

 

[Surf]

On an intrinsic level, seeing this kind of scientific exploration puts a spark in a kids' imagination. I am here because I watched the Shuttle launches as a kid and never stopped looking up. Call it mushy, but you can't put a price on inspiring the next generation.

 

[nittany03]

As much as I want Orion to succeed, I think the private sector is another place to keep an eye on. Places like SpaceX and their ilk are still stuck in LEO, but I'm interested to see where their niche shakes out in this whole process. Going to have to make money on the process somewhere. There are already companies in Bellevue exploring asteroid mining. God knows where they got their startup capital.

Oh, and if you want to amuse yourself in the meantime, go here, download the demo, and start sending little green men into space. Warning: it's addictive.

https://kerbalspaceprogram.com/

 

[wlawr005]

Virgin's ultimate goal is to use LEO to cut transcontinental travel time by 90%. Theoretically, they could do London to Sydney in two hours (it currently takes 20).

 

[OscarMyers]

As much as I want Orion to succeed, I think the private sector is another place to keep an eye on. Places like SpaceX and their ilk are still stuck in LEO, but I'm interested to see where their niche shakes out in this whole process. Going to have to make money on the process somewhere. There are already companies in Bellevue exploring asteroid mining. God knows where they got their startup capital.

Oh, and if you want to amuse yourself in the meantime, go here, download the demo, and start sending little green men into space. Warning: it's addictive.

https://kerbalspaceprogram.com/

+1 on the addicting part with plenty of spectacular explosion. They even teamed up with NASA to create an asteroid redirect mission. There are some crazy KSP videos on YouTube.

 

[PhrogLoop]

...private sector is another place to keep an eye on...SpaceX...Going to have to make money on the process somewhere.

I visited SpaceX with my MBA classmates and that was an awesome experience. The average age of their employees is 30. Imagine how young most of their employees are considering how many NASA/Shuttle/Big Space Contractor veterans they have on staff. That is one way they are making money. Hiring young talent willing to work for cheap to get the world's coolest startup on their resume. The other way they are making money is related to the first. Cost leadership. They have budgeted that they can put military SATCOM equipment in space for $250M per shot. The USG currently budgets about $500M per shot (total mission cost). So they can charge $275-300M to demonstrate cost savings to the taxpayer while taking home a very tidy profit. http://qz.com/153969/spacex-just-ma...heres-how-it-could-make-them-downright-cheap/

 

[nittany03]

I visited SpaceX with my MBA classmates and that was an awesome experience. The average age of their employees is 30. Imagine how young most of their employees are considering how many NASA/Shuttle/Big Space Contractor veterans they have on staff. That is one way they are making money. Hiring young talent willing to work for cheap to get the world's coolest startup on their resume. The other way they are making money is related to the first. Cost leadership. They have budgeted that they can put military SATCOM equipment in space for $250M per shot. The USG currently budgets about $500M per shot (total mission cost). So they can charge $275-300M to demonstrate cost savings to the taxpayer while taking home a very tidy profit. http://qz.com/153969/spacex-just-ma...heres-how-it-could-make-them-downright-cheap/

They're expanding in Seattle. Probably have zero shot at getting hired there, but hey.

 

[nittany03]

There are some crazy KSP videos on YouTube.

Their "selection process" trailer is entertaining, especially after having done the fuge.