For you Shuttle junkies

[Bruce]

Roll out of the latest.

Big pic so I won't post it directly.
http://www.brownings.net/STS-133-rollou ... r_8146.jpg

[Harry Babb]

Shaaazammm.......that's almost like being there.

Bet they have more than 300 HP per side on the Crawler! ! ! !

hb

[Al]

Great picture! Do you know when it was taken?

[AndreF]

Wow, and wow....

[Mikey]

Back in the 70's while traveling down the inter coastal we passed the Cape during a night launch. We were about ten miles away and when they lit off those Roman candles you could read the fine print on a car dealer's contract. One of the most awe-inspiring man-made sights I have ever witnessed.
Great shot, Bruce. Were you there for a launch?

[Bertramp]

Space shuttle astronaut Ellen Baker (3 trips) is the sister of a friend that I grew up in Queens NY. Cornell Medical School and one of those people that you KNEW were gonna be a HUGE success even when they were young. Focussed, driven and businesslike, even as a kid. GREAT LADY !!

[gplume]

Don't know about you guys....but I cannot beleive we are stupid enough to kill the program. Talk about job killing. Should wait until we have an alternative running.

[In Memory Walter K]

But Giff, we're stupid enough to stop oil drilling and exploration in America yet complain constantly about America's dependence on foreign oil. Oh, by the way, expanding those areas makes jobs for the unemployed. Am I a rocket scientist, or what?

[Bruce]

Not my pic Mikey.

Unfortunatly those jobs are supported by tax payers. Its not like NASA produces anything that they sell and are a profitable business.

And with the system bleeding, its gotta stop somewhere.

I look at it this way, if we are talented enough to build that rig, fly it to a floating motel 6 and back again then we sure as hell could be using that talent to fix some of our issues on Earth like alternative fuels.

If you look at the shuttle program, they've been doing the same thing over and over since its inception.

[mike ohlstein]

But Giff, we're stupid enough to stop oil drilling and exploration in America yet complain constantly about America's dependence on foreign oil.

We're saving our oil for when they run out of theirs. Wait until you see the price we get for it in about 300 years......

[Tony Meola]

Mike

I wouldn't bet the ranch on that

[gplume]

Let me frame my response;

Certainly not for another govt spending program....but seems to me, they are spending it anyway on "jobs" programs. This was a "jobs" program already in place (I think I have heard the term "shovel ready" by our fearless leaders) To me moeny spent on the space program is better than just giving it away....and it does employ a lot of people and advance technology. Next, from purely a pride perspective.....I don't see how we can just depend on foreign nations to travel into space....just plain wrong. We need to stay the leader...and if you don't go out and explore the edge of the envelope...you won't be the leader anymore.

I have worked in the electronics and semiconductor industry for over 30 years. I am not sure how many of you know this....but, the advancements in chip technology and electronic packaging that enable all of the neat little electronic toys we take for granted are a direct result of the goverment spending on defense and to some extent the space program.(60's, 70's, 80's and beyond). So next time you use your GPS to find your way home...and before that Loran....and just about any thing electronic you may have from TV's to sterios to cell phones ect and on and on, thank the fact that the govt spent the moeny on the enabling technologies that make the chips that run these things possible and the fundamental technologies all for the military....and to a much smaller extent the space program.

Again......not a big goverment guy by any stretch, but the facts are the facts.

so...how did oil drilling get into this discussion?

[In Memory Walter K]

I used it as a parallel analogy. Stop exploration (in anything) and you'll be beholding to those who do.