They could not put it in pluto orbit?
They need to practice a bit more with Kerbal space program.
New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto
41–50 of 309 posts
Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's true that all of humanity will benefit, but it's also true that a very specific subset of humanity payed for it. Look at it from a purely practical perspective - it is absolutely unnecessary for anyone outside of America to like this program! The American voting public took on all of the downsides of this program (the expense, mainly). They hold complete control over its existence, and the existence of many miss…
It can be said the people of the world payed for it given American imperialism abroad. All the reparations countries pay might have contributed...
Do you even know what the word imperialism means? If you're European, it would be quite appalling if you didn't.
Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's true that all of humanity will benefit, but it's also true that a very specific subset of humanity payed for it. Look at it from a purely practical perspective - it is absolutely unnecessary for anyone outside of America to like this program! The American voting public took on all of the downsides of this program (the expense, mainly). They hold complete control over its existence, and the existence of many miss…
Rosetta/Philae was a European achievement paid by the EU public, yet that barely gets mentioned. It's really a shame that the endless churn of downbeat economic news has overshadowed everything good that European countries are able to do together... Maybe Europe would benefit from having a bit more American-style "rah-rah" patriotism around the good old "12 stars on deep blue" EU flag. Nowadays it seems that we Europ…
>>> Rosetta/Philae was a European achievement paid by the EU public, yet that barely gets mentioned.
I don't know man, I was reading quite a lot about it and loving every minute of it.
Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Rosetta/Philae was a European achievement paid by the EU public, yet that barely gets mentioned. It's really a shame that the endless churn of downbeat economic news has overshadowed everything good that European countries are able to do together... Maybe Europe would benefit from having a bit more American-style "rah-rah" patriotism around the good old "12 stars on deep blue" EU flag. Nowadays it seems that we Europ…
oh please, no american-style patriotism here in europe. I respect our american friends, but please, just... no. to give reasons would mean insulting probably more than few, so I refrain from that. let's say we're not all the same, we've grown up in different environments, and there are quite a few things I personally don't like in current US, and would not see many reasons to be proud. that we have our own issues is…
You already have that exact same patriotism there.
Enter any thread, on any major forum online, and bring up any of the following topics: healthcare, crime rates, gun control, two party systems, standard of living, inequality, conservative religiousness. You'll be rapidly overwhelmed by bragging from Europeans, about how they're superior.
You can't get away from the boastfulness out of Scandinavia, Germany, France, the UK, the Netherlands - about how they're all superior to America on any given topic. I've yet to find a major forum where this doesn't occur.
I disagree that patriotism or nationalistic bragging is in any way uncommon in Europe.
Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto
#45This is awesome. Congratulations to everyone who pulled this off (and fingers crossed that the data gets back successfully).
Everyone has earned the right to chant the name of whatever country they feel like.
Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto
#46That flag-waving and chanting of U-S-A U-S-A at the point of closest approach was one of the most appalling, jingoistic, alienating spectacles I've ever seen. You'd think they had just planted the flag in the soil ( ice? ) and claimed Pluto for God and America. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Space Race is over. Grow up. You're doing this for all humanity.
It's true that all of humanity will benefit, but it's also true that a very specific subset of humanity payed for it. Look at it from a purely practical perspective - it is absolutely unnecessary for anyone outside of America to like this program! The American voting public took on all of the downsides of this program (the expense, mainly). They hold complete control over its existence, and the existence of many miss…
>The American voting public took on all of the downsides of this program.
True. But the rest of the world bears the brunt of American liabilities.
Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto
#47That flag-waving and chanting of U-S-A U-S-A at the point of closest approach was one of the most appalling, jingoistic, alienating spectacles I've ever seen. You'd think they had just planted the flag in the soil ( ice? ) and claimed Pluto for God and America. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Space Race is over. Grow up. You're doing this for all humanity.
I wouldn't go so far as saying it was appalling, but it was in bad taste. No one doubts Americans are ahead of everyone else in terms of science and exploration, so they certainly deserve to celebrate however they want, but science and exploration are beautiful and inspirational because they're borderless and bring humanity closer, even if it's for a short moment. I'd have preferred them not to chant U-S-A and wave flags during the flyby, because that short moment is at its peak when the flyby is happening and everyone around the world share the same curiosity and happiness by watching the stream live, but if that's the way they want to celebrate, that's the way they're gonna celebrate. They deserve it.
On a side note: I completely disagree with people who compare this to the World Cup or the Olympics. The whole idea of those competitions are nations competing with each other and science and exploration is not about the achievement of one particular nation, rather the advancement of humanity.
None of this means that we should take any credit from NASA or the American tax payers. Everyone should be thankful and I am.
Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto
#48I remember reading about Pluto in dozens of space books when I was a child, all filled with beautiful images sent from Voyager I and II, I'm so excited that we can finally add Pluto to that roster Also, it's so incredible that the New Horizon's team has managed to get to something so small and far away!
That is a moving target no less.
Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto
#49That flag-waving and chanting of U-S-A U-S-A at the point of closest approach was one of the most appalling, jingoistic, alienating spectacles I've ever seen. You'd think they had just planted the flag in the soil ( ice? ) and claimed Pluto for God and America. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Space Race is over. Grow up. You're doing this for all humanity.
If you want the American public to increase funding for NASA instead of cutting its budget and spending more on wars, maybe it's good to let them run up the scoreboard and slam the football on the field. It is hard to convince the public times of economic trouble to fund missions like this is felt out of fear or national pride.
In an ideal would people would support it for science alone, but we don't live in that world.
Re: New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto
#50I'm more than a little disappointed that we haven't got gleaming alien cities in the viewfinder this time, but I guess there's still a chance that Ceres is going to give humanity the boost it needs.
:)