final shuttle launch

[jimmyjoejangles]

http://www.space.com/11689-shuttle-launch-photos-airplane-window.html

cool photo of our last shuttle launch. sad to see the end, this marks the start of americas decline in technology.

We need to be spending more money on space research, the future of the human race lies in the stars.
hope i did that link right or this thread is bust.

[Mr. Spencer]

But there's nothing up there. There's no reason to go to space when we have telescopes that can see objects from billions of miles away.

[jimmyjoejangles]

nothing but all sorts of resources, we've got to go back to the moon and onto mars. Like Carl Sagan said we need to become a multiplanet species, this is a fragile planet, and it would be a shame to lose it all. Besides people said there was nothing across the atlantic, and we then found the americas. And before the american westward expansion, people said that there was nothing but a wasteland in the western portion of the country, and look at it now. We've got to keep progressing or the human race is dead. I would look for some wesker qoute about evolution, but I'm sure someones got one qued up.

but the picture of it coming through the clouds is pretty cool right.

[Mr. Spencer]

But there's nothing on the Moon. There's no reason to go back there.

What resources? Space is just solar radiation and vacuum, unless you know of a way to mine other planets.

[Dracarys]

Until new technology is developed to get people back and forth quicker as well as methods of living/protection created what is the point of going to the Moon?

The same for other planets, if someone put their foot on Mars tomorrow, picked up a few rocks and came back to earth what exactly was the benefit to mankind?

We reached the Moon a few times, the Earth was blue but there was no God etc, no reason to go back yet.

[jimmyjoejangles]

but how will we get the technology to travel in space while we can't even get into orbit anymore without paying the russians three hundred million a head.

The moon has water, helium-3, and all sorts of other raw resources, basically everything that is on the planet earth. not to mention a mostly unobstructed surface which we could set up solar arrays on and beam the energy back to the planet.

we need more ambition, the human race is a forty year old living in its mom's basement, we need to leave the nest.

In less then one hundred years we went from steam power to the moon and we haven't gone any further in the last fifty years.

[Mr. Spencer]

We reached the Moon a few times, the Earth was blue but there was no God etc, no reason to go back yet.

Well said. [/Zero]

[Scream]

No go space. TV 500 channels.

Pretty sure that's why people in Star Trek are unfamiliar with television.

Seriously though, we can see things are behind schedule, people haven't sorted their s*** out on Earth, we're gonna be stuck here for awhile unfortunately. Perhaps the next great civilization will concentrate on it.

[Rombie]

BTW, this isn't the last shuttle launch ever - it's the last for Endeavour. There is one more shuttle launch scheduled in July of Atlantis which will be the last ever.

[Vector]

It's funny...the woman who took that picture, I've been following her on Twitter for years. We talk every once in a while. She was just visiting her parents in Florida and her plane was passing by as the shuttle was taking off...she snapped a picture and the rest is history. She was interviewed by a ton of news outlets and added around 4,000 followers on Twitter. It was her 15 minutes, I guess.

[Trent]

I agree with jimmyjoejangles here. But to be honest, when NASA decides something like this, I'm pretty sure they got something better in storage. And also, I'm pretty sure that their decision was an economic advantage that was worth it until they construct something more advanced than the shuttle.

The same for other planets, if someone put their foot on Mars tomorrow, picked up a few rocks and came back to earth what exactly was the benefit to mankind?

If you think like this, we will never be able to discover other planets, or scientifically progress. We have to always be curious, otherwise we will never discover anything new. If we do not discover new things, we will never advance. If we never advance, nature will certainly take us out.

"Science is a way of thinking. A way of skeptically interrogating the Universe. If we are not able to ask skeptical questions, then we're up for grabs." - Carl Sagan

[Scream]

Mars is nothing IMO, I'd much rather go for a longer range mission outside of the solar system. Exactly where I'm not sure, but I know there are a number of probes (either already out there or going to be launched) that will sooner or later be going through areas that may have a chance to support life, a long time to wait though...

[Trent]

Mars is nothing IMO

Nothing? Mars has water, carbon, a 24 hour day and geothermal energy. It's the next logical step (Robert Zubrin).

[Scream]

Well Mars is a logical step, don't get me wrong we can do both. But I can't see anyone living there for a good awhile other than some team of scientists, how long before we can realistically terraform Mars?.. And besides putting a human community onto a real lively planet far away from Earth is a lot cooler/safer.

I guess we should also think about seed/generation ships... Makes me want to watch Pandorum again.. awesome movie other than the fight scenes..

[Trent]

I think the time required to investigate other planets (that are habitable) outside our galaxy is far greater than putting effort into Mars, which is in our galaxy. Although time is a factor which we have plenty of, we should definitely start thinking about the possibility of inhabiting closer planets, because this is something which is doable with today's technology. Also, keep in mind that in order to really advance to the level of reaching planets many light years away from our planet (and not dieing out in the process), there has to emerge groundbreaking discoveries in our current scientific knowledge. To put it in plain words, we need new Einsteins for this.

Or, a new cold war might push us in the right direction ;)