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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 2460202" data-attributes="member: 177">A few occasionally disconnected thoughts..."What we need is X."  There is no one single X that will make space exporation perfect, or even especially good.  It is a complex problem, without a simple solution.  One hunk of hardware won't fix the world.We also need a public and media that realizes that getting to orbit entails strapping the cargo to a gigantic bundle of high explosives, so that it is inherently risky.  There is only so much that can be done to make is safe, and excessive safety requirements can make the overall performance of the program worse, rather than better.  Spending two and a half years to make safety changes to a system that would afterwards continue for only 5 more years in a limited fashion was not a cost-effective approach to the problem.We could use an Administration with a less politicized approach to setting space policy.  We need a series of administrations and a public that realizes that the capital investment required to explore and exploit space is enormous, and that the investment will require generations to pay off.  This is not a program from which we should expect profit within our own lifetimes. It'd be a big help if some folks realized that the space program is not entirely about science.  It is about engineering, and developing good process, and a whole lot of other things.NASA is not the enemy.  NASA takes it's orders from the government, and is answerable to that government and the court of public opinion.  If you want to blame someone for how NASA approaches things, look at the climate in which they have to work.The Shuttles are old... sort of.  It is more accurate to say that the airframes are old.  Note that none of the issues we've seen of late has been due to a problem with the airframe.  The heat-resistant tiles are replaced/repaired regularly, as is foam on the external tank, as were the o-rings so long ago.  None of these problems had anything to do with the age of the shuttles.</blockquote>

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