40 Years on. Man on the moon. Truth or a Hoax ??

[platinumXR]

As far as I can tell NASA do have another vehicle in the works, I saw something the other day and some NASA or science boffin said there was a new one due to start service in 2013 or 2015 or something?

The Space Shuttle was just that: a shuttle or a delivery van; used to deliver satellites into orbit, deliver people and equipment to MIR/ISS and so on. It was not intended to be a moon mission vehicle or whatever.

I think Road_Warrior mentioned that it would be too costly to do both at the same time? I think that is pretty on the money...one small step at a time...there's no real rush now as they (the US) had won "The Race" and proclaimed superiority anyway.

yanknbank - I'm not sure they dropped the ball really as they were just progressing from one 'project' to the next...a case of "Ok, moon is done; got all the info and rocks we need for whoever to study till the cows come home...what's next?" I think they want to build the International Space Station to 'launch' future missions to the moon or Mars or Vulcan or wherever and that takes time to build and is better to start from there than launch from the earth every time...that cost's heaps and wastes resources...just my understanding.

[cs123]

As an aside, if you happen to travel to the USA a trip to the KSC in Orlando is a must. The technology on display is incredible and the Saturn V they have there is awesome.

[Spanrz]

Originally Posted by cs123

As an aside, if you happen to travel to the USA a trip to the KSC in Orlando is a must. The technology on display is incredible and the Saturn V they have there is awesome.

The wife is organising a family vist next year. It will be centred around the NE Coast.
But "I have plans", I said to the good lady. I want a NASA visit, I want to see the shuttle go up.
So I'll take this on board, that not only NASA is worth a visit, so is to the KFC store nearby....!
See how things go.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by platinumXR

As far as I can tell NASA do have another vehicle in the works, I saw something the other day and some NASA or science boffin said there was a new one due to start service in 2013 or 2015 or something?

Project "Orion" yeah. Not to be confused with a 1960's/1970's concept of the same name that proposed a strange propulsion method - nuclear explosions out it's backside.

From what I can gather from Orion, it will be a case of "back to the future" in that they will be using a launch vehicle and lunar/Martian module that is very similar to the old ones. Just a more modern design with modern tech inside. They've built some mock ups already and have even done water flotation testing with one.

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by Spanrz

But "I have plans", I said to the good lady. I want a NASA visit, I want to see the shuttle go up.

Had a mate go watch a Shuttle launch a few years ago. Was an early morning launch before the sun was up and viewing from a few kilometers away.

He said it was like watching the sun rise - it lit the sky up as if it were the middle of the day. Intense light, intense noise and vibration... a moment he'll never forget.

[cs123]

Originally Posted by Spanrz

The wife is organising a family vist next year. It will be centred around the NE Coast.
But "I have plans", I said to the good lady. I want a NASA visit, I want to see the shuttle go up.
So I'll take this on board, that not only NASA is worth a visit, so is to the KFC store nearby....!
See how things go.

It's worth the trip. The only problem with launches is that tours are somewhat restricted around the launch time. We got to see a shuttle on the pad awaiting launch but it would be great to see it go up.

You could probably do two days there. There is a tour of the centre plus Apollo or you can do a tour of the historic launch facilities. We did Apollo and wish we stayed two days. You could also do Orlando Disney as well to keep the rest of the family happy.