Share
submit to reddit
Pin it

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)Yesterday, the space shuttle Discovery landed on Earth for the final time in its 27-year long career. On Monday, it has been reported that actor William Shatner gave the crew their final mission wake up call:

"These have been the voyages of the space shuttle Discovery, Her 30-year mission: To seek out new science. To build new outposts. To bring nations together on the final frontier. To boldly go, and do, what no spacecraft has done before."

Discovery, which has been taking astronauts into space since before I was even conceived, is expected to be donated to the Smithsonian Institute's National Air and Space Museum following a decontamination procedure. It will replace the space shuttle Enterprise, which will likely go on loan to other museums.

The United States manned space program is not completely over yet, though. The space shuttles Endeavor and Atlantis still have one mission each before they are retired later this summer. And plans to launch the Orion spacecraft (originally proposed by President George W. Bush in 2004) are still ongoing, even though a manned flight to the moon isn't expected until 2019 at the earliest due to delays and budget difficulties. But by the end of this summer, manned space flights by NASA will be on indefinite hiatus until a new type of spacecraft can be created and tested.

Orion is one such vessel, but British researchers recently revealed a new, reuseable space "plane" called Skylon that uses a Hydrogen rocket that will supposedly allow it to autonomously take-off, reach outer orbit, and land - all without the use of an expensive, disposable, secondary rocket. This is an exciting proposition, as it could lead to cheap and easy space flight, as well as the potential for space tourism! But Skylon isn't the first vehicle that has promised to usher in an era of space tourism, so I wouldn't hold my breath on it if I were you.

In the meantime, the loss of the United State's manned space flight program (even if it is temporary) is a huge disappointment for me. It could mark the end of a Golden Age of scientific discovery and progress that started (ironically enough) with the invention of the atomic bomb. I hope that the days of children aspiring to become astronauts does not end with the retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet.

Thank you, to the crew of the Discovery and all the fine folks at NASA for inspiring a generation of people with your curiosity and courage. I look forward to a bright future of further manned space exploration to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, and hope that you all will continue to inspire the youth of this world to boldly go where no one has gone before.

Tags:, , , , , ,

Contribute Comment

avatar


We'll incarnate your avatar from the services below.
PlayStation Network Steam Xbox LIVE Facebook MySpace Pinterest Twitter YouTube deviantART LiveJournal



biuquote
  • Comment
  • Preview


Grid Clock Widget
12      60
11      55
10      50
09      45
08      40
07      35
06      30
05      25
04      20
03      15
02      10
01      05
Grid Clock provided by trowaSoft.

A gamer's thoughts

Welcome to Mega Bears Fan's blog, and thanks for visiting! This blog is mostly dedicated to game reviews, strategies, and analysis of my favorite games. I also talk about my other interests, like football, science and technology, movies, and so on. Feel free to read more about the blog.

Check out my YouTube content at YouTube.com/MegaBearsFan.

Follow me on Twitter at: twitter.com/MegaBearsFan

Patreon

If you enjoy my content, please consider Supporting me on Patreon:
Patreon.com/MegaBearsFan

FTC guidelines require me to disclose that as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases made by clicking on Amazon product links on this site. All Amazon Associate links are for products relevant to the given blog post, and are usually posted because I recommend the product.

Without Gravity

And check out my colleague, David Pax's novel Without Gravity on his website!

Featured Post

The Humanity of NCAA Football's In-Season RecruitingThe Humanity of NCAA Football's In-Season Recruiting08/01/2022 If you're a fan of college football video games, then I'm sure you're excited by the news from early 2021 that EA will be reviving its college football series. They will be doing so without the NCAA license, and under the new title, EA Sports College Football. I guess Bill Walsh wasn't available for licensing either? Expectations...

Random Post

'Madden NFL 11' should have been DLC for last year's game'Madden NFL 11' should have been DLC for last year's game01/17/2013 This review was originally published 09/14/2010 on Game Observer (now defunct as of 05/13/2014). It has been republished here for archival purposes. More than just a roster-update, but Gameflow is worthless and not worth the full price if you already own Madden 10. It’s that time of year again. It’s time for the annual release...

Month List

Recent Comments

Comment RSS