Congradulations U.S.A. (The Mars Landing)

Hoyt,-- the opening post is quite specific,-- Americans only.

 

We[humans] have found the space aliens and they are us.

 

!!!!! OK who are you and what have you done with Hoyt?

Last Christmas it was baby jesus and creationalist belief.

You been eating raw oysters.

 

We put Viking landers on Mars, that took photos and analyzed soil, 37 years ago in 1975. 15 years ago, with Pathfinder in 1997, we put a fixed station and a rover in place. We put two rovers, Spirit and Oppurtunity, on the surface in 2003, which roamed around transmitting photos and data for 6 years, 10 times longer than they were expected to.

The big difference here is a Mohawk haired pretty boy to drum up PR and money support.

 

This latest landing building upon the former landings will surely add to the advancement of the knowledge of Mars. Sort of a fine tuning to fill in the blanks. Had this landing failed it would have delayed the whole exploration for years. Thus the importance that this was a success. From all this activity I have a gut feeling an actual manned landing is not far off and we may be fortunate enough to experience it in our lifetimes. The background engineering must be mind boggling

P.S. I'm lost on your last statement -- ???

 

This guy...

 

Wow--first time i was aware of all this activity-- Sort of like playing highly religious hyms on a guitar in church. From what you say he seems to be in contact with the younger"IN" generation. Remember those days "Be there or be square Possibly he'll prod some of the youngins to improve their math. and science to become part of this here space exploration. Before i give him too much credit i should view that interview
Ok watched the interview, All in All I think it was a positive move as far as attracting the interest of the younger generation and certainly did his best to direct the public toward the mission and away from himself.

 

First man in space was Russian, first to fly round the globe was Russian which was what encouraged the roumers of a false landing by USA on the moon.

It was suggested that in shear desperation and impotence with eagerness to win, NASA was told make it or fake it.,

 

The more countries involved the better I say.

 

Certianly would be less cost to the average U.S. taxpayer. The drift of my origional post was not to exclude the input of others but to give credit to the country and it citizens whose infrastructure permitted all this activity to occur. The fact that it welcomes other countries and non U.S. citizens to use this infrastructure and share in the glory of it's success speakes highly of the host. Now before i get a counter post stating that these others provide valuable input to the program, I agree. I also have no doubt that the U.S scientists on site thanked the outsiders for their most valuable input while at the same time the response would have been " "Thank you for including me". It's not every day a highly qualified Canadian, European, or any scientist has opportunity to play such an exciting role in space exploration. As a Canadian, i am well aware, due to our small population/tax base, of the limited funds, we have to invest in such projects. Thus when a Canadian is invited to work and share in these programs -- yes I offer thanks to the host country and it's hard working citizens that make it all possible.---And Thanks Again- Geo.

 

Thanks to
for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadarm

 

Take a look at the expenditures on these projects folks and where they're conducted, launched and maintained. I think you'll find there are some token numbers of non-Americans involved, but the huge bulk of everything, every aspect is USA derived. And though we're very grateful for the participation of other nations and their citizens, it's pretty clear where the vast majority of the energy, money, materials, staff and expertise comes from.

As to the Russians, Oh please, they killed quite a few just trying to keep pace and yep, they got a few space "firsts", but their people suffered mightily as a result of these and other attempts at totalitarianism. At each advance we made, they suffered more, as their ruble was further divided into military adventures. Since their economy wasn't market driven, but "devised", and their currency was not internationally exchangeable; distribution of goods was controlled by other devices, such as centrally planned quotas, queuing or "deal making", which as any reasonable economics student will tell you, can't succeed in the long term. Since the government controlled prices and the exchange of currency in the former USSR, they where doomed, knew it, but hid it for decades, all the while attempting to keep a straight face, of which their people were clueless (and suffering) until the communications and data transfer explosions in the 1980's. Then suddenly they knew what was available in just one Sears catalog and at 1/10th of the price of their similar products, of course of those that weren't against the law to own (like computers, satellite dishes or cell phones). They went nuts and literally overthrew their own beloved system. So, please lets not bring up the Russians as a success story; it's no more valid than using the Nazi ideas of a society as an example, even though in most every way you measure a society, the Nazi society was the most successful, it can't be considered without the same distillation of reality, as that of the former Soviet Union examples sited above.

I don't mean to disrespect any of the governments or citizens of all the other participating countries (as I previously stated), but when you look at the simple truth of it all, the statistics, one thing becomes plainly obvious; the USA has bore the most substantial bulk of these escapades, repeatedly for the last 3/4's of a century.

 

Without the space race with Russia and government investment, man would have never left the earth. Would we even have satellites or GPS now?
I'm glad a half a percent of my taxes go towards space exploration, down from 4 percent at the height of the moon landing missions.

 

Russia was first (sour grapes aside) they did not know they were in a race. They wanted space exploration and did so.

They were first in space. The race was won. If there was a race.

Its only American terminology that called it a race when they tried to catch up.

Until there is any benefit to space exploration further than we are such as another livable planet then no further is required certainly as the cost is prohibitive in these money conscious times.

 

Really? The Soviet Union didn't compete with the USA to stay ahead in the space race???
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Race

Money isn't everything in life. If 50 years from now we discover an asteroid on a collision course with Earth, the R&D and practice we get now with our early space exploration could "save the world".
We could find something that changes everything.
The technological advancement can't be overlooked - navigation, mapping, sensors, the landing by sky crane for curiosity.
The huge launch cost is spent; the huge R&D cost comes back into the economy by creating many high-tech jobs.