I hate to see it all turned over to the private sector. Money has to be a motivator for that kind of thing to work. I just don't see where it can amount to anything. Come on taking the rich into space, caring communications satellites into space for X$, maby. Maby creating Motel Moonbeam. And as for Deep Space Exploration, thats a long way off , isn't it? They talk about Interplanetary Mining and Colonization in the distant future. I would much rather see them (NASA) "The United States Of America". And all other partisipateing cuntries. Do something cool with our moon first and then use it as a platform for Deep Space Travel. Just My Opinion.
----Danny,

We built the payload bay doors here in Tulsa's Rockwell Plant. Great job in better times......

_________________
The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

I worked a NASA-certified AN/FPS-16 tracking radar at my last duty station before retirement -- we provided orbital data for many STS missions.

I'm disheartened to see our manned-spaceflight program terminated.

Arjay

_________________
"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

The growth of the human race just took a step backwards.

_________________
Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

Fender needs a Bob Perine style photo with astronauts and a Strat
MARS OR BUST!

+1!

Arjay

_________________
"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

I have a friend that is an astronaut and worked on the space station on one of the missions.We grew up and went to the same schools throughout our lives.He is a really cool dude and very lucky to have been able to do this.I remember him telling me way back in grade school that he wanted to be an astronaut.I was like.... "Yeah right dude".Boy...did he show me.He was scheduled to go up again but since the program is changing I don't think he will be going.How many people can say they have been on the space station...how cool is that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_M._Acaba

_________________
1986 Fender Sidekick Reverb 35
1990 Fender Red Knob - "The Twin"
1992 Fender Newporter - Acoustic
2000 Fender American Series Strat - Natural ash
2010 Fender Mustang 1
2011 Fender Blacktop Jazzmaster -Sunburst
2012 Fender Champion

He could always stand outside of the Kremlin and wave a tin cup.



Arjay

_________________
"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

The entire cost of the 40 year history of space shuttle program has been *$196 billion. Sounds like a lot, doesn't it? But it's a drop in the bucket of the trillions of dollars the government spends in a year. The AIG bailout cost $182 billion (in one year). The current war has cost about $1.2 trillion to date. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not just upset at the current president about this. I'm upset at the last one (and even the one before that) too. Instead of getting the ball rolling on replacing the shuttle with something more cost effective while he still had time, he said "Hey guess what? We're going to the moon again!" That's like saying, "We need to replace our family's old SUV. Should we get a Camry? No, let's buy a limousine!" I would have had no problem with phasing out the shuttle if there were something else to phase into! Something realistic. I seriously doubt anyone (from this country) will land on the moon or mars in my lifetime. It's my generation's version of the promise of flying cars by 2000.
Why not build something smaller, safer and more cost effective? It's not like we couldn't do that. But no, let's go ahead and kill the manned space flight program and lay off all of our smartest people. They could always work at McDonald's, I hear they're hiring. Oh, and let's go ahead and add insult to injury why don't we. Yes, let's make sure the Johnson Space Center doesn't get a space shuttle even though mission control is there, "Houston" was the first word said on the moon, and there's already tourists who go there specifically to see things like that.

Sorry about the sarcastic rant and all. Stupidity just irritates me. And I've been wanting to vent about this for a while now. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a little bias on the subject. Growing up in Houston as a bit of a history geek/space nerd doesn't help things any.

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_program

_________________
Website: http://www.rebeccalaird.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebeccalairdmusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/beckslaird
Instagram: http://instagram.com/beckslaird

PREACH IT, MY LONE STAR BROTHER!

Arjay

_________________
"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

How cool is that to Evan know someone that has been in space, I mean really in space. thanks for sharing.
----Danny,

To quote that great American philosopher, Dallas Frazier, as applied to the decades-long excitement and drama of the US space program history and in honour of the last shuttle flight...

"Ride, daddy, ride, he's too much, get 'em man,

like, hips-ville...."

_________________
Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancin'

The Shuttle (+ launchers) is apparently the most complex thing ever built by man. Think I can believe that.

I feel the same way now as I felt when they retired Concorde.

Keep one for posterity sure and as a reminder of the folks who were lost riding it, but that hardware needs to be moving. Keeping them in a damn museum is like watching a chained up tiger.

Let's all go away and listen to "Countdown" by Rush (from the Signals album)

_________________
Fender Highway & Classic 60s Strats, Fender Toronado, Telecaster, Gretsch Projet, Charvel 3, PRS SE Soapbar II & Custom 24, Burns Batwing and many others!

The current administration would rather pay the Russians to carry Americans into space. Also they get to eliminate more U.S. Jobs!

_________________
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson