I am all in favor of humans colonizing the solar system, just for openers. We also share strong capitalist principles about human action. I believe that the extension of civilization off planet will eventually follow the model of the previous great age of exploration and colonization. Queen Isabella sold her jewels to finance Columbus. From Cabotto and Cartier, from Plymouth and Nieu Amsterdam, through the English crown charter corporations, to Benjamin Franklin paying Thomas Paine's passage, the width, depth and breadth of the population movement across the Atlantic extended, and the pace accelerated.
However, nothing guarantees success. No historical imperative exists. The Vikings colonized Greenland and Newfoundland. Despite their 500-year tenure in Greenland and their 400 years of sporadic visits to Newfoundland their efforts are not considered "successful."
Imagine that the solar system out to Saturn were so visited by thousands of humans - as Norse colonies in Greeland numbered 4,000 or more - .... and then... we retreat to Earth and maybe Luna.... How would that look?
While we did not establish bases on the Moon, we did put space stations in orbit and one is there now.
With Anousheh Ansari at Super Science Friday
U of M Flint, 2009. With her husband and his
brother, she created the X-Prize Foundation.
She paid her own way to the ISS.
Allow me to quibble with a few of Ed's points, much as I agree with the general intent and presentation. I realize, also, that he has only so much space and time and might well have made these same points himself.
EH: "NASA, a government agency, could not bring down the costs of spaceflight, ensuring that such visionary goals would be multibillion dollar boondoggles."
The reality of political action guarantees that NASA has a raft of interconnected problems. They are risk-averse. They are all the eggs in one basket. On the other hand, the ultimate success of the computer revolution is evidenced by the litter of bold but failed ventures in which competition impelled toward excellence. More to the point, perhaps, no one ever actually was killed by the Blue Screen of Death.
Of course, aviation is dangerous and spaceflight all the more so. It is a known risk. NASA could never step up, own the risk and move on because being answerable to Congress, they were and are forced into untenable positions. Visit the Hoover Dam some time. Men died building that,too ... and the Empire State Building, and the Brooklyn Bridge... When a skyscraper has a perfect safety record, they post that on the wallboards of their next project site.
Pilot plunged 1,000ft to her death in front of boyfriend after BOTH wings fell off her gliderBy DAILY MAIL REPORTER
UPDATED: 07:04 EST, 12 August 2010
David P. Cooley dies at 49; test pilot worked for Air Force, Lockheed Martin before fatal crash
David Cooley died March 25 when the jet he was testing crashed near Edwards Air Force Base. By Jon Thurber - March 30, 2009
David P. Cooley, the retired Air Force pilot who was killed Wednesday in the crash of an F-22 near Edwards Air Force Base at age 49, had a significant career as a versatile test pilot and a large effect on the test flight community in the high desert as a trainer and mentor of future test pilots, colleagues told The Times on Sunday.
Mike Markkula -- $142,000
Arthur Rock -- $57,000
Don Valentine -- $150,000
Apple's 2010 Market Value: $220 billion
A quarter million invested in Genentech in 1976 became $47 billion when sold to La Roche in 2009. Five million invested in Intel became $90 million. $1.4 million invested in Tandem Computers in 1974 became $3 billion when Compaq bought the company in 1997.
Cost, per se, was never an issue. Yes, they over-ran their costs for the same reasons that corporations and private firms do. We all are optimists or we would not get out of bed in the morning. NASA had no way to capitalize its successes. It could not "go public" with an IPO. It could not be sold to a larger firm. It could not merge or acquire. So, I agree that NASA was nice for what it was but really was born a dinoisaur in an age of mammals. Nonetheless cost over-run was not its most serious flaw.
Also, just a footnote, but I believe that Buzz Aldrin earned his doctorate in astronautics at MIT by working out the orbital mechanics of space craft rendevous and docking.
(Edited by Michael E. Marotta on 7/18, 3:28pm)
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