Wasteful,  deadly, boondoggles?, forgotten, NEVER, greed,

Someone buy this poor fellow some flowers and a puppy dog.

Dr. Jeff,

I never argue with someone with a closed mind.

-Todd

Drunks and idiots - two varieties I rarely bother with. Anyone expressing this opinion has clearly got their mind made up or is trolling for a reaction. I won't bother linking this particular poster to the opinions I expressed on this site, as I doubt they would even care to get through the whole of paragraph one. Look at his other comments on subjects - all negative and moaning. HuffPost has been getting more and more of this, unfortunately, which is a shame because I used to like reading there.

Sadly there is a grain of truth to the above statement (boondoggle)  but it misses the point. The original intent of the STS was admirable but once politics and the military got through with the 'Decision' making it was doomed to the fate it's coming to today. The problem is the lack of long term vision and I know it's unpopular but I support the Augustine commission flexible option and the general concept of staying out of gravity wells until we get other aspects (heavy lift, long term mission life support, space tug vehicle) sorted out.

I posted this here once before but I encourage interested persons to watch the first couple at least of a lecture series from MIT open course ware ( http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Aeronautics-and-Astronautics/16-885JFall-2005/LectureNotes/index.htm ) for more detail on how  the next logical step after Apollo was over designed due to military requirements and under-funded due to political expediency. 

Don't get me wrong I love the STS and think it still is the most advanced spacecraft humanity has seen but she's an old bird and without radical new technology is not the best answer to get to orbit safely and economically. 

Offended? I'm practically climbing over the back of the chair! Should we forget the 127 (and counting) successful flights, the science that has been performed, the building of ISS and relations with the US's international partners, all that has been achieved in the last 30 years?

30 years ago the Space Shuttle was the most advanced spacecraft mankind had ever built. Now it's old and the idea doesn't seem so great anymore, so we must move on. To brand it a waste and a boondoggle however is, in my opinion, to be blind and ignorant. Forgive my slight lack of knowledge of American slang, but I thought a boondoggle was an investment of time and money with little or no return. That's about as wrong as you could be about the 30 year Shuttle program.

Jeff, while I agree the comment is borderline offensive, I learned a long time ago you don't feed the trolls on the internet,they just multiply and get more stupid. Great thing about knowing someone's opinion is you are free to ignore it at your own pleasure :)

Mark- My problem is I learned the hard way that trolls need to be addressed. Truth is not often reality. *Perception* is reality. In fact, perception if believed by enough folks then becomes the 'new' truth. If trolls are ignored, and not put in their place by facts, then those who don't have the facts listen to them. Those that listen are voters, advocates, and not voiceless. The **worst** thing you can do with a troll with a platform is ignore them. Because others we want to reach are listening. It is not about changing the mind of a troll - not possible - it's about making sure they don't change the minds of others. -Jeff

I remember reading about the space shuttle concepts and worried I would die before seeing such an incredible feat of engineering - I think I was 10 at the time.  I was so excited to see it, and it was so mind boggling, and I wanted so bad to see it, that I thought it was too good to live to see.  How could I agree with this person's perspective?  The Shuttle is a magnanimous achievement and, for those of us with a passion for Space Exploration and a heart for science, the journey has been an unbelievable ride.  Thank you, again, to all those who made incredible sacrifices for the advancement of our understanding and exploration of the final frontier.

Forgotten? Heck, no! If anything, the shuttles should be forgiven and respected.

Posted a reply ..

cheers

Against total population counts, few people are born stupid. Now this fellow and his shuttle fuss could be one of those, but generally stupidity is cultivated from birth, through schooling, and into society.  So the challenge, it would seem, is to spend more time and effort raising public knowledge about the sciences; even when they fight to keep it away.

We talk about education reform, but the focus continues to overlook the system's infrastructure and management. This is where educational policy is fostered or strangled and where stupidity can be effectively cultivated.

So our shuttle hater, educated in a different environment, may very well have become an astronaut.  So maybe he is expressing a hidden message to all of us.

I posted a reply on Huffington as well. One of the things that's been bothering me lately about the general political climate is the stark polarity of "Americans".  It seems more and more when a republican-type says "America" they mean the America of people that agree with their viewpoint, and Democrats do the same thing for their America. This polarity is my perception and is highly generalized, as reflected by what I see in the media. If you feel offended by my viewpoint, then you are an exception to it. :) 

So for me it's important to not shut off the opposition because I think they are stupid - because that is what they do to me. Instead, this is the part where I want to reach out and close the gap. Or at least reduce the fear some. I'm not entirely sure how to reach out well, and I'm not perfect at it yet, but each step is an experience in my natural mode of diplomacy. We need them on our side - or at least not fighting our side with factless ruthless abandon.

Yep, it's up to everyone wiling to see the positive and understand how to help.

Shuttle attitude will most certainly be useful on other planets when we eventually populate and learn a better standard of atmospherics regarding planetary evolution...

an example of modern atmospheric development and distribution is the use of perchlorates and recent NASA testing of other rocket fuel climatology distribusives...

The shuttles knowledge will be kept and the expertise will fly again!!!

The heavens await...

www.spacetravel21stcentury.blogspot.com/