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KRELL HOT SITE AWARD! |
While you're there, why not join my SETI team? We're the Guitarists Surfin For The Alien.
Many people think spending money on things like space exploration, and astronomy are wastes of money. I could not disagree more and here is my reasoning as to why.
Back in high school, I had a teacher who was one of those "liberal types" who thought that spending of this sort was and is a complete waste of money and time when we should be curing cancer and AIDS. That's a partially valid point, because I don't personally know anyone who wouldn't like to see all disease wiped out, including me. I also have a friend who has a brother who also thinks spending money on science is a bad thing. He says things like, "I don't buy this argument that for every dollar spent on space exploration we get X dollars back in other beneficial technologies." X being a number somewhere between 8 and 14 dollars. That's the range I've heard quoted most often, with benefits ranging from from electronics and computers, to materials science and medical technologies.
From my point of view their side can not even be argued. I know I'm going against the grain here but government spending is a GOOD thing. Does anyone know why so many people were employed with good, high paying jobs all through the cold war? Because the government was spending money on military R&D. I am not arguing for more spending on things like bombs that cause collateral damage (read MURDER INNOCENT PEOPLE), but for more spending on the sciences. And since I am a fan of space exploration, more spending on that in particular. Contrary to brainwashed popular belief, government spending has several beneficial outcomes:
A) It puts people to work.
B) It makes for a larger tax base with more government income so that
the money the government is spending on these projects does not create
deficits.
C) It puts people to work.
Rarely in the history of science does scientist BOB, who is searching for A, discover A. He generally discovers Q, which is totally unrelated to A, but is interesting and beneficial nonetheless. This is called SERENDIPITY. And it is the best argument I can think of to fund ALL sciences, including space exploration. No one can tell me that they KNOW that the cure for cancer will not come out of astronomy, or particle physics. Unlikely perhaps, but not written in stone, and with that in mind I present to you the SPACE-GEEK SUPER-PAGE!
If you are a space geek like my friends and me, you will certainly want to start out with NASA's main homage. From there you can visit many places... and in my opinion, there is no better group of pages than all of NASA's. You could visit them for weeks, but If all you have are some general questions about NASA and space exploration, and are afraid to attack the NASA homage for fear that it might be to information intensive for one human being, try the NASA Q&A page, it's sure to delight.
If you're interested in exploring the space agencies of other countries around the world, try these:
I and people like me believe we should be returning to the moon with more
surface exploration in mind, and the eventual goal of living there with
a permanent colony. Once we learn to do that we should mount a manned effort
to Mars. Should these new efforts involve other countries of the world?
Of course, let's do this together. And if you're one of the many people
who think we should be returning to the moon to stay, then an organization
that you will definitely want to join will be The
National Space Society. There you can find TONS of great info on everything
from space history, to efforts to jump-start our manned exploration program.
I highly recommend that you go to this page and join
the NSS to add your voice to the tens of thousands of fellow space
enthusiasts who want to see us return
to the moon to stay. Additionally, you can purchase things from their
gift shop, and even ask
an astronaut a question.
Here are the previous astronauts who were apart of the ASK AN ASTRONAUT Program.
Werner Von Braun had many brilliant ideas about interplanetary space travel LONG before most people even considered it. Part of his plan was an orbiting space station from whence we would ultimately launch these expeditions to the moon and Mars. I believe the wheel shaped spinning space station (ultimately used in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey) with artificial gravity was first suggested by him. Although I'd love to have one of those babies orbiting above me, our first venture will not be so extensive, but it's right around the corner and it's called International Space Station Alpha. There does exist however plans for a wheel shaped (RING SHAPED to use their words) space station which would actually be assembled from Shuttle External Fuel Tanks boosted into orbit and attached to form a ring. I like the idea and hope to see it happen. If you're interested in this concept, check out the Ring Station page.
It should be known that I support the space shuttle transport system (STS) program because it is currently our only manned space vehicle, and I am in favor of space flight. However, in mine AND the late Dr. Carl Sagan's opinion, and much to the dismay of my friend Frank, I think it's a practically useless space exploration tool, because it doesn't REALLY go anywhere, and I believe we should be going places. Yes it's a great micro gravity research and satellite deployment/retrievel tool (with the occasional repair), as demonstrated by the perfect job the crews of STS-61 and STS-82 did in repairing the Hubble Space Telescope. But let's go someplace cool.
Another fine organization of which I am a member is The Planetary Society. Dr. Sagan himself was a founder, and they do a lot of great things. So why not join?
I'm not sure what the next shuttle mission is, but for information you can go to the Shuttle Press Kit If you want to see where the Space Shuttle is RIGHT NOW, select this link. Pretty Cool. Also, for any Shuttle related questions you might have, here's the Space Launch FAQ.
If you're looking for a great place to find information about anything NASA has done or written about, I found a really nifty search archive called the NASA Center for AeroSpace Information Technical Report Server. To date I have found this an invaluable resource for a project a partner and I are working on that requires mega information on the Apollo spacecraft and its systems. Someday we hope to be able to show you a software based Apollo simulation.
There are two VERY exciting missions on their way to Mars as youy read this. The two together are called Mars Surveyor 98. Individually the missions consist of the Mars Polar Lander, and the Mars Climate Orbiter. The Mars 98 Lander launched on January 3rd,1999, landing on Mars on December 3rd,1999. The Mars 98 Orbiter launched on December 10th, 1998 and arrives in Mars orbit on September 23rd, 1999.
The Mars 98 Lander is carrying a microphone which will allow us to hear the sounds of the Martian environment. That should be pretty exciting.
The previously launched Mars Pathfinder has ended its very cool and tremendously successful mission on the Martian Surface, and the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft has resumed aerobraking and should undertake it's Martian mapping mission in spring of 1999.
Be sure to get your name on the CDROM that will be flying to Mars on the Mars 2001 Lander. I already signed up and they're looking for many more signatures.
Follow these links to their home pages. It's all great stuff and I'm very excited about all of them.
See what happened in Space History with this tremendous Space Calendar maintained by Ron Baalke at JPL. This page is amazing. It has nearly 700 links to many of the historical events the calendar covers!
Where is the International Space Station right now? How about the Mir Space Station?
How would you like to Own real-estate on the MOON?! This is really happening. Whether or not it would stand up in court is another matter entirely. It's probably just a novelty.
There's another guy out there claiming to be a SPACE GEEK. Click HERE to see for yourself.
That's it for now. Please put me in your bookmarks and check back from time to time for an update. That is if my opinions haven't alienated you in to never returning. :-)
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