End Of An Era Space Shuttle flights

[sheepdog 10]

Today the space shuttle made it?s final landing in Cape Canaveral. I am sad to see such a long and beneficial program come to an end. I guess it wouldn?t be so bad, but they, NASA, have nothing coming up in the near future to take it?s place. For the people in the international space station, all future deliveries will now be made by Russian Soyuz spacecraft. I also feel bad for the thousands of people that are going to loose their jobs. Even during the best of times, there can?t be that many job openings for rocket scientists. And with the unemployment rate like it is now, those over educated people are going to have a real tough time. Especially since they have grown accustom to the good pay and great benefits that come with government jobs. They would be pretty discouraged to end up flipping burgers at McDonalds. A lot of those people there have been working for the shuttle program for over 20 years. The program itself has been running for 30 years. I do find it interesting, and actually, quite hopeful, that NASA seems to believe that the private sector will take over some of the space agencies duties. Privately owned rockets are in our near future it seems, though frankly, I can?t imagine what sort of government BS red tape you would have to go threw to get a license to shoot rockets into space, it?s pretty bad just having a license to have a dog kennel. Companies such as Boing and SpaceX are expected to vamp up their manned space flight programs. At least that way there might be some job opportunities for the former NASA employees. And hopefully, if things work out, the private sector investors might create even more jobs and opportunities in the future.I suppose there are those who would say that with our budget deficit and other financial trouble we face in this country, cutting out the shuttle program is a good thing. I just can?t bring myself to agree with that though. So much of the technology we have today is due to the space/shuttle program, like getting all those satellites in orbit that have modernized our communications so drastically in the past few decades. Keep in mind, I am old enough to remember party line telephones. Heck, even telephone poles are becoming a thing of the past as we go to underground cables or just satellites. But I also grew up in the age of Star Trek. After years of watching Kirk and Spoc go where no man has gone before, it just seems natural, or normal to accept space travel to an awful lot of us. Many of us don?t consider it science fiction, we consider it science future!

[k_nitin_r 8]

The end of the space shuttle program at NASA is an attempt to cut costs and therefore raise funds for the research and development of a new spacecraft development program that is more capable and efficient than the present-day space shuttle. The space shuttle was unique in that it could take off like a rocket and then land as a plane, providing a much softer landing than previous spacecrafts that would land in the ocean and use the water resistance to slow down and buoyancy to stay afloat.The scientists from the space shuttle program would no doubt have a role to play in the development of the new space craft and therefore would get to keep their jobs. They just might find their new roles more motivating and interesting - any kind of new development is more interesting than the maintenance of existing, aging projects for most engineers.By privatizing space travel, organizations would be able to form cheaper and more efficient means of sending people and equipment into space. With the way things run in corporations, they try to find cheaper and more efficient ways to do things. They hire the best of engineers, and might even hire away from NASA by offering higher pay packages.The budget deficit and financial trouble caused by the economic downturn creates a need for the government to form new initiatives to kick-start the economy yet again and it would take something huge, perhaps even the privatization of space travel and transport, and the research and development effort into a new space craft might be a step in that direction.

[sheepdog 10]

The scientists from the space shuttle program would no doubt have a role to play in the development of the new space craft and therefore would get to keep their jobs.

Unfortunatly for the NASA employees, it isn't going to work that way. Many were layed off a few months back, and I am not sure of the exact number, but I think it is something like 9,000 that are going to be layed off all toether. They will I'm sure, continue their reasearch and development employees for what ever project they have coming next, but anyone connected to the shuttle program is a gonner. I certainly understand the need for budget cuts and controls on government spending, but I wish they would take it from somewhere else.