SpaceX has done good, no doubt about that, although the fact they ARE the first highlights how hard this stuff actually is. The number of failures are many, and the powerpoint presentations promising the solar system are legion. Going by history, I'll pay attention to SKYLON when they're fully funded and bending metal

Oh, good.  'Cause there's plenty of planets wouldn't let you dock without a decent...ambassador on board.  Now, we get a mechanic, get her up and running, hire a good pilot maybe a cook; live like real people.  Small crew, them that feel the need to be free, take jobs as they come, ain't never have to be under the heal of nobody again.  I already know what I'm gonna call 'er; got a name all picked out.

Now, about the money; anybody know someone willing to fence a priceless artifact?

This post makes we wish we had some sort of rep system, so I could give you some.

Definitely... at the moment they really need funding. Their first major challenge is to make a full scale prototype and prove the concept of their heat exchanger works, the key to making the two-in-one engine work.

The folks at Reaction Engines also have a concept for a mission to Mars which is pretty cool (though I'm not sure why they advocate the ludicrously more expensive method of launching 3 simultaneous missions).

There are some other advanced propulsion concepts. VASIMIR is an electro-magnetic thruster which promises a very cheap way of pushing stuff around in orbit, and will soon be tested on the ISS.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasimir

Then there's some sort of fancy laser-propelled concept, which sounds pretty far off but could be something interested. Reminds me of an 80s anime called Odin, where much of the space travel in our solar system was being done along these laser highways.

Weight and costs are major obstacles that we'll need to overcome to fully get out there. Moving away from solid and chemical fuel rockets is definitely the way to go.

Otherwise... we're going to need some help from outside:

For another first milestone, the shuttle Discovery is going to be taking up the first humanoid robot, called the Robonaut in February (or whenever they sort out the leakage problems and clear it for flight).. which will also mark Discovery's final flight.

And another wow moment for you. Voyager 1, launched in 1977, is approaching the edge of our Solar System. It's now a staggering 10.8 billion miles away from our Sun! It's such a long way away now that even if it did want to come home, it would take another 30 years. The mind boggles at just trying to imagine how many football fields that is.

I'm super excited, in a few weeks time I will travelling to Florida to watch Endeavour's last launch. This will be the second to last shuttle launch. We both celebrate our 30th this year too.

So who else has seen a launch?

Saw the last launch from too far away with too much cloud cover; going to try to find a better spot for Endeavour.  I live about an hour from the Cape; lemme know if you want to try to link up.

Not sure; I've only been living there for about eight months, and it's been at least a decade since I've been to any of the theme parks.

Sorry I've missed this thread up to this point, but I was at a wedding this weekend.

See this guy?

He was there, too.

Know where else he's been?

Yeeeah.

Oh wow. That must have been great. Were you 'star' struck? I confess I wouldn't know whether I'd bombard him with questions or remain mute and look like a cat had my tongue. For a guy who got a reprimand for taking a sandwich up on Gemini 3, he sure didn't stop let that stop him from going places - twice to the moon and the first shuttle mission.

Still, you were in the same room! That's very cool.

Endeavour's launch been delayed 10 days, a result of a traffic jam at the ISS over the late April period (the Russians are sending a supply ship called the Progress around the same time). Can you believe it? Two weeks before the launch and each team is hoping the other blinks first. Oh bless them... Americans and Russians working together in peace and harmony.

The UK now has a space agency. The imaginatively titled UK Space Agency formally came into being a few days ago. We Brits now can begin to take further pride in our complete lack of space presence. Here's the blurb from the site:

The UK's thriving space sector contributes £7.5bn a year to the UK economy, directly employs 24,900 and supports a further 60,000 jobs across a variety of industries.

I wonder how that compares to NASA? The space industry is said to be one of the few industries in the UK that is currently growing. Yeah, we seem to be knee-deep in shite at the moment.

Your uncle was Jim Irwin? Jesus.

It's your general sack of shitdom, it's easy to append "lying" to.

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