3 ms·

Given that Russia and China can put a man in space, keep him there for a year, and return him to Earth safely, and the US can't, I guess that means Russia and C

Given that Russia and China can put a man in space, keep him there for a year, and return him to Earth safely, and the US can't, I guess that means Russia and China have won then.

simonh 8y ago
Yep, for now definitely winning.
qaq 8y ago
USSR could do that Russia not so much.
- garmaine 8y ago
  They’re doing it every six months...
  - qaq 8y ago
    They can send a human in space they can not keep human in space for a year without use of ISS. Russia does not have resources or human capital to build a new space station.
    - simonh 8y ago
      They built and still own big chunks of the ISS and the ISS has only been habitable and functional thanks to them for many years. It's not like they don't have space station technology. If they really wanted to put something up separately, they'd just do it, no problem. It's just a matter of resource allocation, not absolute capacity.
      - qaq 8y ago
        It's a matter of human capital USSR specialists are either dead, retired or about to retire there are no replacements for them plus total and absolute corruption is significantly affecting ability to produce anything.
        jessaustin 8y ago
        This is the sort of claim for which I'd like to see some support.
        qaq 8y ago
        Look at the photo of Roskosmos senior people :) On a serious note you can just look at all the launch issues Roskosmos is having. They have prosecuted people for stealing gold parts from rocket engines among other things.
        madeuptempacct 8y ago
        What is there to support? Russia is very much a mafia state at this point. Any leads in tech that Russia had are lost by Putin refusing to invest in technology and small business. By Putin putting incompetent people in leadership positions of corporations that run the space program and fighter production (note how PAK FA is dead). Sure, Russia's military is decent, and great giving the budgetary constraints, but there is no future without economy and tech. I am definitely not anti-Russian, but it's in a depressing state.
    - ForHackernews 8y ago
      I think they are in fact planning to continue with their own station after the non-Russian components of the ISS are deorbited: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_Piloted_Assembly_and_Experiment_Complex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_Piloted_Assembly_and_E...
      - qaq 8y ago
        They also plan to build a moon base and many other amazing things it's delivery that is the issue.
    - danielvf 8y ago
      ISS is basically several space stations and modules docked together in space. One set of modules is Russian, and entirely capable of undocking and operating as independent, small space station.
ApolloFortyNine 8y ago
Is there a doubt we couldn't though? I think that's what defines the moon landing as an accomplishment, it was an impressive feat, especially for the time (an ESP8266 is much more powerful than any computer they had at the time). I'm sure if you gave 20 billion more a year to NASA and said put a man in space, we could do so. It's just that quite frankly, we've out grown human beings in space, beyond simply doing so for bragging rights. You can do any kind of tests you want, with almost no limit to complexity, with robotics nowadays, and I don't believe we feel the need to "race" Russia and China to goals we've already accomplished. There's simply better ways to spend the money, research wise.

Given that Russia and China can put a man in space, keep him there for a year, and return him to Earth safely, and the US can't, I guess that means Russia and China have won then.

simonh 8y ago

Yep, for now definitely winning.

qaq 8y ago

USSR could do that Russia not so much.

garmaine 8y ago
They’re doing it every six months...
- qaq 8y ago
  They can send a human in space they can not keep human in space for a year without use of ISS. Russia does not have resources or human capital to build a new space station.
  - simonh 8y ago
    They built and still own big chunks of the ISS and the ISS has only been habitable and functional thanks to them for many years. It's not like they don't have space station technology. If they really wanted to put something up separately, they'd just do it, no problem. It's just a matter of resource allocation, not absolute capacity.
    - qaq 8y ago
      It's a matter of human capital USSR specialists are either dead, retired or about to retire there are no replacements for them plus total and absolute corruption is significantly affecting ability to produce anything.
      - jessaustin 8y ago
        This is the sort of claim for which I'd like to see some support.
        qaq 8y ago
        Look at the photo of Roskosmos senior people :) On a serious note you can just look at all the launch issues Roskosmos is having. They have prosecuted people for stealing gold parts from rocket engines among other things.
        madeuptempacct 8y ago
        What is there to support? Russia is very much a mafia state at this point. Any leads in tech that Russia had are lost by Putin refusing to invest in technology and small business. By Putin putting incompetent people in leadership positions of corporations that run the space program and fighter production (note how PAK FA is dead). Sure, Russia's military is decent, and great giving the budgetary constraints, but there is no future without economy and tech. I am definitely not anti-Russian, but it's in a depressing state.
  - ForHackernews 8y ago
    I think they are in fact planning to continue with their own station after the non-Russian components of the ISS are deorbited: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_Piloted_Assembly_and_Experiment_Complex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_Piloted_Assembly_and_E...
    - qaq 8y ago
      They also plan to build a moon base and many other amazing things it's delivery that is the issue.
  - danielvf 8y ago
    ISS is basically several space stations and modules docked together in space. One set of modules is Russian, and entirely capable of undocking and operating as independent, small space station.

ApolloFortyNine 8y ago

Is there a doubt we couldn't though? I think that's what defines the moon landing as an accomplishment, it was an impressive feat, especially for the time (an ESP8266 is much more powerful than any computer they had at the time). I'm sure if you gave 20 billion more a year to NASA and said put a man in space, we could do so. It's just that quite frankly, we've out grown human beings in space, beyond simply doing so for bragging rights. You can do any kind of tests you want, with almost no limit to complexity, with robotics nowadays, and I don't believe we feel the need to "race" Russia and China to goals we've already accomplished. There's simply better ways to spend the money, research wise.