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Yep. Hope people can put politics aside and appreciate another step forward for humanity and science. Good luck to all involved!

by yapcguy 13y ago

wavesounds 13y ago
I think another space race would be a good thing actually. In fact I think it's how we should solve all our international disputes: First country to put a man on mars gets the South China Sea.
- Kliment 13y ago
  Can non-nations apply? (Thinking of the South Musk Sea)
- maxden 13y ago
  Alive or dead?
  - gdewilde 13y ago
    They are going to die anyway.
- thaumasiotes 13y ago
  But... putting a man on Mars takes a good chunk of his life for no gain to anyone. Why not "first country to build a 700-foot traditional stone pyramid"? "First country to paint 30% of its land area blue"?
  - noselasd 13y ago
    I'd be more excited about getting people to Mars, and so would presumably many other - and it'd provide much more advances and gains than building a pyramid.
mapt 13y ago
Put politics aside? Nationalism is all we've got to push forward space exploration; While there were initially subtexts involving spy satellites and nuclear weapons, the tech has been there for forty years, and forty years ago we stopped making progress and settled into a holding pattern involving the Shuttle and a modest space station in some sort of 'spirit of cooperation' that is earmark- rather than goal-oriented. I can only hope China's national inferiority complex is intense enough to propel human beings beyond low earth orbit once more, and shame us out of our hyperpower exceptionalism. Yes, shame - Russia can send someone to the ISS and the US cannot - and without the US feeling ashamed of that, there is no Dragon, no Dream Chaser, no Orion. Without a political space race, there's no resources for this sort of thing except for the passing billionaire.
- sigzero 13y ago
  All true but a "political space race" can have a bad ending as well.
- melling 13y ago
  "Nationalism is all we've got to push forward space exploration" What about the Google X-Prize for the moon lander? Several teams are competing. There are certainly other ways to push technologies forward. X-Prizes help. Finding other ways to tap into the $15 trillion US economy would help too.

Yep. Hope people can put politics aside and appreciate another step forward for humanity and science. Good luck to all involved!

by yapcguy 13y ago

Yep. Hope people can put politics aside and appreciate another step forward for humanity and science. Good luck to all involved!

wavesounds 13y ago

I think another space race would be a good thing actually. In fact I think it's how we should solve all our international disputes: First country to put a man on mars gets the South China Sea.

Kliment 13y ago
Can non-nations apply? (Thinking of the South Musk Sea)
maxden 13y ago
Alive or dead?
- gdewilde 13y ago
  They are going to die anyway.
thaumasiotes 13y ago
But... putting a man on Mars takes a good chunk of his life for no gain to anyone. Why not "first country to build a 700-foot traditional stone pyramid"? "First country to paint 30% of its land area blue"?
- noselasd 13y ago
  I'd be more excited about getting people to Mars, and so would presumably many other - and it'd provide much more advances and gains than building a pyramid.

mapt 13y ago

Put politics aside? Nationalism is all we've got to push forward space exploration; While there were initially subtexts involving spy satellites and nuclear weapons, the tech has been there for forty years, and forty years ago we stopped making progress and settled into a holding pattern involving the Shuttle and a modest space station in some sort of 'spirit of cooperation' that is earmark- rather than goal-oriented. I can only hope China's national inferiority complex is intense enough to propel human beings beyond low earth orbit once more, and shame us out of our hyperpower exceptionalism. Yes, shame - Russia can send someone to the ISS and the US cannot - and without the US feeling ashamed of that, there is no Dragon, no Dream Chaser, no Orion. Without a political space race, there's no resources for this sort of thing except for the passing billionaire.

sigzero 13y ago
All true but a "political space race" can have a bad ending as well.
melling 13y ago
"Nationalism is all we've got to push forward space exploration" What about the Google X-Prize for the moon lander? Several teams are competing. There are certainly other ways to push technologies forward. X-Prizes help. Finding other ways to tap into the $15 trillion US economy would help too.