Comments on: A Cold War Meeting in Space 33 Years Ago Today

By: alphonso richardson

alphonso richardson — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:03:01 +0000

I remember this a a child. I read the papres ever day & watched the TV, forcing my family to endure my obsession with space.
Warren, the end of the 'Space race' wasn't simply about political posturing (The Cold war went on for another Decdae & a half (ish), as you well know).
As with most grand endeavours,including the old Soviet union, it simply got too damn expensive to maintain.
So this is why so many projects are collaborative & venture capitalists are planning to get tourists married in space.

By: Jerry Stone

Jerry Stone — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:14:02 +0000

I was at KSC to see the Apollo launch for the ASTP mission and two things stood out.
Firstly that Deke Slayton had shown that if you truly believe in your dream and don't give up, it is possible to reach your goal.
Secondly, the fact that what was unthinkable a few years before had become reality – the great rivals of the USA and the Soviet Union were working together. Even though there were no in-depth plans to follow up this mission, whatever anyone said about it being a publicity stunt, no-one can deny that it meant a major step forward in collaboration and easing of tensions across the world.
Of course no-one can accurately make long-term political predictions, but this was a very positive event.
As to long-term space activity, the ISS would certainly have benefited from us retaining the Saturn V, whose heavy lift capability would have enabled the ISS to be constructed with far fewer flights. But any throw-away system is still too expensive for long-term use. What we really need is a fully-reusable horizontal take-off vehicle. The prototype of these is Skylon, being developed in the UK by Reaction Engines (see http://www.reactionengines.co.uk/). When the cost of reaching orbit is mostly the cost of the fuel – rather than equipment – then prices will tumble.
If we're looking for a true way forward, this may well be it.

By: Disinfo Agent

Disinfo Agent — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 17:56:42 +0000

I don't think I had seen that picture before. I liked it.

By: Warren Platts

Warren Platts — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 17:03:05 +0000

Ugh! Apollo-Soyuz was the beginning of the end–that is, the beginning of decades of stagnation in manned space exploration–the wonderful ISS notwithstanding.

I still don't understand what was so great about ending the space race. It didn't end because the US won it–although the US had checkmate in three moves; it ended because the US offered a draw and the Soviets accepted.

Now the spirit of cooperation prevails over the spirit of competition–as if that's a good thing! Why is it that for nearly all human endeavors, competition is widely recognized as the proper spur to improvement; yet when it comes to space, competition is bad. Why? I guess it must the hurt feelings, because I can't think of any other reason–except as an excuse to cut a nation's space budget to free up discretionary funds for wars and such.

Bottom line: Apollo-Soyuz and the mind-set it represents were a disaster for the American space program.

By: Paul Eaton-Jones

Paul Eaton-Jones — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:47:39 +0000

Gods, it seems only like yesterday. Shame that it serves only to show how short-sighted N.A.S.A. and the American government were by discontinuing the utterly magnificent Apollo programme. The awe and majesty of it still brings a lump to my throat when I think of it and see old footage of a Saturn V taking off. How wonderful it would have been to see what Apollos 18-22 might have discovered and ultimately led to. Magnificent and sad.

Paul.