Why is space so unpopular!!!

Chuck Fan wrote:

I think it is fair to say that, although human interstellar travel could hold many theoretical rewards for us, we are not currently in a position to strongly support either side of the argument about whether the human civilization, in a form we humans who are alive today would recognize, is strongly favored to actually achieve it with a live astronaute.   I think we can make a good argument for the position that the overall capability of a technological civilization evolve in a style best characterized as a puncturated equilibrium.    For long periods, civilizations makes routine technological advances that gradually improve its capabilities in detail, but does not facilitate fundamental increase in its reach.   Then, when the foundation laid by multiple technical advances, each conceived at a different time and for a different, unrelated purpose, eventually fall in place, the civilization experience a sudden rapid period of expansion.  This expansion eventually exhausts the potential of its original foundation and the civilization settle back down to another period of long, slow, steady progress. I think evidence argues that late 19th and first half of 20th century had been a period when the foundation of a quantum leap in human reach had fallen into place.   Hence from an era when men moved about the earth pretty much as he had done since the chariot age, perhaps modestly faster, men progressed to the air age, and the space age in one life time.   But since the 1960s, nothing new has encouraged us to believe that there is more potential in the  scientific technological base that facilitated this phenomenon is capable of continueing to sustain this rate of increase of human reach indefinitely.   In fact, we seem to have essentially exhausted the potential of further increase.   NASA is redoing Apollo, and the Chinese decided Soyuz is as good as manned space capsule design can get.   We've exhausted the potential of the technological foundation laid since the 1600.  Steady, slow improvements will continue, but quantum leap in our reach now requires the  separate maturations of whole collection of new technologies and techniques, some of which is perhaps not even in incubation yet.    Because I think we've reached something of a brick wall in our fundamental technological reach, I suspect that one human lifetime from now, we will still be stuck on earth, with trips to mars a rare excursion only to be undertaken for pressing geostrategic prestige reasons.  But perhaps in another 300-400 years,  something like the time that elapsed between Galileo and Wright Brothers, when human reach expanded from circumnavigation in 3 years to circumnavigation in 80 days.  we'll suddenly make another quantum leap in reach similar to the one that which took us from sailing ships to Apollo 11 within one life time, and that new expansion resulting from several centuries of steady progress would let us expand our reach from trips Jupiter, to trips to Alpha Centauri, to trips to the Galactic core within one life time.   Whether human civilization can sustain itself in a form recognizable to us today in order to bring us there in 300-400 years is another question.

 

Only because at present the public and business do not see the value of space exploration, and they forgot or don't relize the things we take for granted every day that came from the space program(ie the Pc as an example). If something were to change that advancements would be pushed forward.

An example of this would be if life was found to exist or have existed on Mars

I think it is fair to say that, although human interstellar travel could hold many theoretical rewards for us, we are not currently in a position to strongly support either side of the argument about whether the human civilization, in a form we humans who are alive today would recognize, is strongly favored to actually achieve it with a live astronaute.  

I think we can make a good argument for the position that the overall capability of a technological civilization evolve in a style best characterized as a puncturated equilibrium.    For long periods, civilizations makes routine technological advances that gradually improve its capabilities in detail, but does not facilitate fundamental increase in its reach.   Then, when the foundation laid by multiple technical advances, each conceived at a different time and for a different, unrelated purpose, eventually fall in place, the civilization experience a sudden rapid period of expansion.  This expansion eventually exhausts the potential of its original foundation and the civilization settle back down to another period of long, slow, steady progress.

I think evidence argues that late 19th and first half of 20th century had been a period when the foundation of a quantum leap in human reach had fallen into place.   Hence from an era when men moved about the earth pretty much as he had done since the chariot age, perhaps modestly faster, men progressed to the air age, and the space age in one life time.   But since the 1960s, nothing new has encouraged us to believe that there is more potential in the  scientific technological base that facilitated this phenomenon is capable of continueing to sustain this rate of increase of human reach indefinitely.   In fact, we seem to have essentially exhausted the potential of further increase.   NASA is redoing Apollo, and the Chinese decided Soyuz is as good as manned space capsule design can get.   We've exhausted the potential of the technological foundation laid since the 1600.  Steady, slow improvements will continue, but quantum leap in our reach now requires the  separate maturations of whole collection of new technologies and techniques, some of which is perhaps not even in incubation yet.   

Because I think we've reached something of a brick wall in our fundamental technological reach, I suspect that one human lifetime from now, we will still be stuck on earth, with trips to mars a rare excursion only to be undertaken for pressing geostrategic prestige reasons. 

But perhaps in another 300-400 years,  something like the time that elapsed between Galileo and Wright Brothers, when human reach expanded from circumnavigation in 3 years to circumnavigation in 80 days, we'll suddenly make another quantum leap in reach similar to the one that which took us from sailing ships to Apollo 11 within one life time, and that new expansion resulting from several centuries of steady progress would let us expand our reach from trips to Jupiter, to trips to Alpha Centauri, to trips to the Galactic core within one life time.   Whether human civilization can sustain itself in a form recognizable to us today in order to bring us there in 300-400 years is another question.

 

 

   

 

 

 

Chuck Fan wrote:

espins1 wrote: Even as recently as 500 years ago people still believed the earth was flat and that Columbus would fall off the edge of the earth. I think popular history has cloned around a little too much with the notion of how stupid and ignorant we had been before.   Educated people of much of the old world had known that the earth was spherical since 2000 years ago.   One should not use the superstitions of the ignorant to define the state of knowledge of an era.   If we apply such a standard evenhandedly, then because there are still plenty of people today who believe the earth is flat and was created in 7 days, we must conclude that we've made no progress since 500 years ago.

The point I was trying to make, which seems to have been missed, was in reference to one individual in this thread stating emphatically, without a doubt, that we will never send humans into deep space.  I can sight thousands of examples of this sort of thinking being proven wrong time and time again throughout the ages as technology and our understanding of physics and the universe continue to expand. 

Many people (including the educated) didn't think humans would ever fly....... 

Many people (including the educated) didn't think humans would ever make it into space.....

Many people (including the educated) didn't think humans would ever walk on the moon......

Chuck Fan wrote:

espins1 wrote: Even as recently as 500 years ago people still believed the earth was flat and that Columbus would fall off the edge of the earth.   I think popular history has cloned around a little too much with the notion of how stupid and ignorant we had been before.   Educated people of much of the old world had known that the earth was spherical since 2000 years ago.   One should not use the superstitions of the ignorant to define the state of knowledge of an era.   If we apply such a standard evenhandedly, then because there are still plenty of people today who believe the earth is flat and was created in 7 days, we must conclude that we've made no progress since 500 years ago.

While many ancient cultures knew the Earth was round (and long before 2000 yrs ago), the Dark Ages was a time where we forgot much of what we knew, or at the very least a suspicious and paranoid church kept the information to itself for their own agenda. Please note that the preceding sentence is not a condemnation of any church or religion today. Educated people 500 years ago also knew the Earth was round (though loathe to admit it in fear of retribution from Holy Rome, ask Galileo!). Sadly, they were the minority. 

For all of our technological advances, we still exhibit many traces of an ignorant and backwards society, much to my chagrin. The progression you refer to has been very slow, except for the past one hundred years. Our maps may no longer show vast white spaces where "here there be monsters", but our ignorance of other cultures, at times, appalls me. It is equally true that if we apply the even-handed standard based on the Stephen Hawkings amongst us, one could conclude that Utopia has finally been realized.

Rumsfield was laughed at when he said it, though I knew immediately what he meant by "We don't know what we don't know". And that is especially true of space, for that is the remaining place where there might be monsters. Deep space travel may very well prove to be impossible, but we need to test that theory by conquering near space. We need to get past our fear of the monster known as ignorance.

 

espins1 wrote:

Even as recently as 500 years ago people still believed the earth was flat and that Columbus would fall off the edge of the earth.

 

I think popular history has cloned around a little too much with the notion of how stupid and ignorant we had been before.   Educated people of much of the old world had known that the earth was spherical since 2000 years ago.   One should not use the superstitions of the ignorant to define the state of knowledge of an era.   If we apply such a standard evenhandedly, then because there are still plenty of people today who believe the earth is flat and was created in 7 days, we must conclude that we've made no progress since 500 years ago.

 

 

Auntie Matter wrote:

"It's people like this that keep the world in stagnation.... wimps and whiners that do not have the Courage to move onward, who can't see past there own nose."  "Sheepeople?"  what total nonsense...too much Star Trek mentality out there.."hey we can fly in spaceships and visit other worlds "  I said in my original post that we should use robots and now Im a troll  Even though I agree that we are natural born travelers with immense curiosity,the fact is there will NEVER be deep space travel with humans. Flying back and forth to Mars is a lofty goal and we will do it. But leaving the Solar System is for the robots of the future and not humans.

No, you're a troll because you call people names and make fun of artificial limbs. The simple fact is that more people die in a day driving cars than the entire space program has "killed", and I don't care if you think my analogy is flawed, or not.

I quite agree that deep space travel is nearly impossible. However, near space travel is not only possible, but Mankind has already visited our moon. Going to Mars is merely a mathematical and statistical equation.

But note I said nearly impossible. With our current technology we certainly can't reach the next star system, but at one point we couldn't cross the ocean, or fly airplane, or walk around talking on a phone without the cord getting in the way. Technology has a habit of turning magic into reality. It wasn't that long ago that the best and brightest thought traveling faster than 32MPH was impossible, as the air would be sucked out of our lungs. It was also "impossible" to build buildings over ten stories. There are plenty of things we do on a regular basis that used to be impossible. "A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?"

I'm convinced that every astronaut that has died in the call of duty wishes we would continue, so as not to make their deaths meaningless. 

Instead NASA has forsaken any space travel, but sub-orbital missions, and only then rarely. For crying out loud, if we stopped airplane or ferry traffic each time there was an accident, our economy would stop dead. 

espins1 wrote:

(I really wish people would have to take some sort of "social skills" and "civil discussion class" before they are allowed to post in the forums.... )

Even as recently as 500 years ago people still believed the earth was flat and that Columbus would fall off the edge of the earth. 

There was a time when everyone in the world believed that the earth was the center of the universe.  Funny how millions have been proven wrong. 

(I really wish people would have to take some sort of "social skills" and "civil discussion class" before they are allowed to post in the forums.... )

Michael Withstand wrote:

About your comment: That the 'thing' (due to its ugliness) sends pictures that we can never touch is probably one of the main reason so few are interested in outerspace. We don't even have spaceships yet. The spaceshuttle flies to the outerspace thx to its super huge rockets. Hardly advanced in innovation. Put simply our technology is not really up for the outerspace exploration. Wait a few centuries or millenia after the invention of a new propulsion system. The current space technology makes the greeman mock the humankind evrytime they see one of our satellite/probes.......I'm sorry i don't mean to humiliate anyone. I'm sure NASA haas the top brains in the whole globe but even that is still not enough. The human race needs a breakthrough in propulsion system technology otherwise we could only see pictures that we can never touch in reality. So what's the point? Besides every other scientists are busy perfecting machines of war. Our tech development comes mainly from the defense industry........   Have your fingers crossed that the Martian would chose humankind as their ally sometime soon......then we'll see....SPACE....

 

I don't think the technology is as far behind as you think. NASA is already designing and doing limited testing on "exotic engines" such as ion power and even anti-matter engines. Limited testing only due to the fact they are not ready to be tested in space yet.

"It's people like this that keep the world in stagnation.... wimps and whiners that do not have the Courage to move onward, who can't see past there own nose."  "Sheepeople?" 

what total nonsense...too much Star Trek mentality out there.."hey we can fly in spaceships and visit other worlds "  I said in my original post that we should use robots and now Im a troll

 Even though I agree that we are natural born travelers with immense curiosity,the fact is there will NEVER be deep space travel with humans. Flying back and forth to Mars is a lofty goal and we will do it. But leaving the Solar System is for the robots of the future and not humans.

 

Its been an interesting thread this one... lots of different views.  As an adult (43) modeller, I know why I dont, and probably wont, make space-related models.... I just dont find them interesting from a historical perspective.  My stash has a little of everything, aircraft/armour/ships/autos/figurines, but a space-related subject just doesnt get the juices flowing I guess.  Each to their own ?

About your comment: That the 'thing' (due to its ugliness) sends pictures that we can never touch is probably one of the main reason so few are interested in outerspace.

We don't even have spaceships yet. The spaceshuttle flies to the outerspace thx to its super huge rockets. Hardly advanced in innovation. Put simply our technology is not really up for the outerspace exploration. Wait a few centuries or millenia after the invention of a new propulsion system. The current space technology makes the greeman mock the humankind evrytime they see one of our satellite/probes.......I'm sorry i don't mean to humiliate anyone. I'm sure NASA haas the top brains in the whole globe but even that is still not enough. The human race needs a breakthrough in propulsion system technology otherwise we could only see pictures that we can never touch in reality. So what's the point? Besides every other scientists are busy perfecting machines of war. Our tech development comes mainly from the defense industry........

 

Have your fingers crossed that the Martian would chose humankind as their ally sometime soon......then we'll see....SPACE.... 

Until thr President, Congress and NASA put the excitement back into the space program and catch the public imagination like in the day's of Mecury, Gemini and Apollo. I grew up in those day's and would like to see them again. Hope I live long enough to see man back of the moon, doubt I will be for a Mars mission.

Would be nice to see some conceptual models of those vehicles not already on the drawing board, like we had back in the late 50's and early 60's

c3po wrote:

Hey Bgrigg, don't let this fool get to you. Most likely a troll out trolling.

No worries, my statement was more in frustration in wasting my time trying to educate him, instead he ridicules the great leap in abilities the space program brought humanity. I know people who are amputees who can lead very normal lives, and who suffered with the old style prosthetics. I can well imagine their reaction to his sarcasm. I actually read his posts backwards, when I went back a page and read "Mr. Brain" I stopped caring!

One of my first posts in this thread was about my outrage at NASA for allowing the dream to be stifled with the Shuttle. To this day it annoys me that it's considered a space craft when it is incapable of escaping the gravity well. I grow up on Mercury and Apollo, and recall the wonder of the entire event. I cried when Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee died in the terrible even of Apollo 1, and cheered when James Lovell, John Swigert and Fred Haise returned safely after the disaster befell them during Apollo 13. Our "Friend" considers that a failure, when I consider any space mission that returns the astronauts back to Earth safely a success.

I cried when Challenger exploded killing Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik, Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, and Ronald McNair. And cried some more when Rick Husband, William McCool, Ilan Ramon, Michael Anderson, David Brown, Laurel Clark, and Kalpana Chawla died when Columbia went down. But through all those tears, I knew that their sacrifices should not be in vain, and that we needed to strive to reach space and if we can't reach the stars, at least reach the planets.

I said this in my earlier post, and I'll repeat it again. I remember seeing the first astronaut in space, and never thought I would see the last.

BTW, I haven't seen any recent segment topics in FSM that is related to real-space subjects... so...

a friend of mine is designing a 1/144 scale card model of the ISS to follow up his Impressive STS card model collection, and it will grow as the station grows, and right now he's designing the necessary parts up to the current configuration...

I volunteered to be one of the primary builders, and hopefully it would qualify as a how-to article for FSM...

here's his site, where you can get his collection, mostly for free (actually his whole STS fleet plus SRB/ETs are free, except for the payloads), but some will require a small fee to obtain...

http://www.axmpaperspacescalemodels.com

I posted this link before, just reposted it as a refreshment

c3po wrote:

Hey Bgrigg, don't let this fool get to you. Most likely a troll out trolling. It's people like this that keep the world in stagnation.... wimps and whiners that do not have the Courage to move onward, who can't see past there own nose. As this world gets more polluted and over populated from human contamination, these sheepeople will be the first to rise up and complain- WHY was not something done. They will be the ones pointing fingers at everyone else when they should pointing at themselves. Humanity will Only survive in the future if we head out into space, plain simple fact. To many have there head buried in the sand, saying that everything will get better if we just don't think about it and let it pass. WAKE UP!!! Back on topic- The reason why space is Not now popular is because todays youth, instead of staring up at the stars like we did, and still do, wanting to discover what is out there... they have there head buried in some video game or computer. The only thing they want to discover is where the next mutant beast will show itself. Building these models reminds us that there is more than this little planet, that at one time we had a space program that was worth something, something great... it is a connection to a time of hope and dreams. Just think how far we would be now if that dream would have continued.

 

Oh yeah!!! Great statement there sir, I coudn't agree more.

Sir, you mentioned today's youth, well I just turned 20 last week, so I'm still considered a part of the youth (ok, I'm a young adult!!! hehe!!! ), and I can't help but observe my peers today, and what they want to do with their lives...

The thing here in our country is, computer shops ang internet cafes have sprung up like mushrooms almost on a weekly basis, and, well, you've guessed it, these outlets have their PCs installed with at least 5 or 6 of the latest video games that are very popular with today's young people, and guess what, there shops are within sight of elementary schools, high schools and of course, colleges (well, I think your'e getting the sad picture now...)... no wonder many of my classmates here in college almost always have a failing mark, if not D-...

Plus, the mentality of people here is that someone must earn lots and lots of money (by any means possible, and I mean ANY means possible) in order to live a happy and contented life, and it dictates what people should choose which path they want to traverse, like what college degree should they take, for instance, mainly because that's their only option since they need a high earning job that requires that degree to be qualified...

and if there's someone here who has a friend who is a Filipino, you probably know what that college degree is, for those who don't, I'll tell you - its B.S. Nursing - I call it "the National course" translate it to our native tongue, and it reads - "ang pambansang kurso"

 - even our licensed medical doctors enroll for this course just to earn more...

Well, I'm not degrading nurses, they are great people who help the sick and aided doctors in their time of need, but the mentality here is the most annoying part, because the reason most people enroll this course is that many Filipinos think that working abroad is the best way to earn big, and that being a nurse is one of the best ways, if not the BEST way to get there...

so being that, we are sending thousands of nurses abroad, while our hospitals here are actually lacking an adequate number of nurses, sometimes, there's no nurse at all...

wait there's more...

many, if not all young people here sees studying as the most boring thing someone can do with their lives, and that it is only needed as a qualification to land a job... They prefer to be stuck with a PC and chat till their hands get numb of typing and their eyes sore, or if they want to get out, spend some time at the mall and stroll till their legs ache, or go barhopping and party and drink the night away...

and also they consider people who are serious about their lives and their dreams as lunatics, abnormals, and hopeless nerds who they thing will die with their books in their heads...

And I got a fairly good dose of what it feels like to be treated by these people like that...

They think of me and my interest in science, particularly in aviation and space as being hilarious, stupid, crazy, and ready for the dumpsters... (although there are some of them who think very much - otherwise)

ok enought of that!!!

The reason I put this here is to emphasize one thing - that most of the youth here has practically abandoned the thought of dreaming for a better future, to aim higher, to do more that what they thought they can do, and stuff like that...

I think that's what's happening why space is very unpopular, many think that this topic is better confined in classrooms with their boring teachers...

But being that, I am fortunate that I got interested in this, because it gave me something to look forward to - I am not afraid to admit I want to be an astronaut, and right now, I'm working to reach it in any way that I can...

Who knows, maybe someone here can help make us dream again...

Hey Bgrigg, don't let this fool get to you. Most likely a troll out trolling.

It's people like this that keep the world in stagnation.... wimps and whiners that do not have the Courage to move onward, who can't see past there own nose.

As this world gets more polluted and over populated from human contamination, these sheepeople will be the first to rise up and complain- WHY was not something done. They will be the ones pointing fingers at everyone else when they should pointing at themselves.

Humanity will Only survive in the future if we head out into space, plain simple fact.

To many have there head buried in the sand, saying that everything will get better if we just don't think about it and let it pass.

WAKE UP!!!

Back on topic-

The reason why space is Not now popular is because todays youth, instead of staring up at the stars like we did, and still do, wanting to discover what is out there... they have there head buried in some video game or computer. The only thing they want to discover is where the next mutant beast will show itself.

Building these models reminds us that there is more than this little planet, that at one time we had a space program that was worth something, something great... it is a connection to a time of hope and dreams.

Just think how far we would be now if that dream would have continued.

I still love you my brother.. 

Auntie Matter wrote:

Apollo 13 was a success? I thought they died.   No wait..I did see the movie.Uh huh yeah. I did.  See the movie.   Yep.   I saw it. Thats right I remember now.It was a success BRINGING THEM BACK..Duh!  The mission itself was a failure,I would think..wouldnt you  Mr brains?..   If there were 50,000 Space Shuttle launches per day,there would be more accidents to be sure...so the analogy with cars is pointless..you could "care less about deep exploration,except with robots"

Mr. Brains? You've got a bunch of keyboard courage, don't you. I've had enough of you.

 

Auntie Matter wrote:

just think..there wouldnt be artificial limbs if we didnt go into space .I am glad we went into space.Because if we didnt,there would be no artificial limbs.Could you imagine that? I cant. or what about helmet padding? The thought is horrible.. Hey all of you golfers!,thank the dead space shuttle crews for golfball technology everytime you sink a birdie..

 

Now you're just being silly. You know perfectly well what I mean by artificial limbs. Previous to the space program, prosthetics were limited to hooks for hand and stumps for feet. Now people can hold their babies and take part in LIFE again. You think helmut padding isn't worth something? There are plenty of motorcyclists and football players who are alive today due to that padding.

What about the rest of the technology? You posting here is directly due to the space program.

I'll give you the golfball technology. But you really need to research the subject before you spout off your ingnorant opinions. 

just think..there wouldnt be artificial limbs if we didnt go into space .I am glad we went into space.Because if we didnt,there would be no artificial limbs.Could you imagine that? I cant. or what about helmet padding? The thought is horrible.. Hey all of you golfers!,thank the dead space shuttle crews for golfball technology everytime you sink a birdie..   

Apollo 13 was a success? I thought they died.   No wait..I did see the movie.Uh huh yeah. I did.  See the movie.   Yep.   I saw it. Thats right I remember now.It was a success BRINGING THEM BACK..Duh!  The mission itself was a failure,I would think..wouldnt you  Mr brains?..   If there were 50,000 Space Shuttle launches per day,there would be more accidents to be sure...so the analogy with cars is pointless..you could "care less about deep exploration,except with robots"  

Dude, the post is talking about space models not space   Dude,really? Hmm I thought this was an astronomy website.  silly me

 

I certainly agree on this one...

If we haven't faced those risks,we would certainly have not went this far...

If we don't send people simply because of these risks, then, practically we don't want to improve ourselves as humans, because we simply let those fears get the best of us...

"Imagine if Christopher Columbus has come back from the New World, and no one returned from his footsteps"

 - Cpt. James Lovell

Besides, it would be an INSULT to those who sacrificed their lives if people would stop human spaceflight, simply because we're afraid to do so...

Plus, if we stop human space programs, then what would we do when the time comes when we have to leave this planet of ours (and don't limit it to just asteroids and comets)? And please don't say "only if its gonna happen", because it IS going to happen, its just a matter of time

Auntie Matter wrote:

It too expensive and dangerous to put humans into a radiation filled, -450 degree vacuum with really no benefit other than saying that we did it. It is difficult to find astronauts (due to the screening process) so ultimately very highly intelligent,intensively trained people are chosen,go into a low orbit and are killed when their vehicles disintegrate due to human error. Apollo 13 shows us what to could happen to a deep-space vehicle that runs into a life-or-death problem and how there would be no hope if they were tens of millions of miles away. We have no idea what to expect in deep space and would not be able to prepare for every possible problem..sooo    I agree with those people who advocate using robots instead of humans to explore deep space. Once we are capable of building special deep space vehicles-robotic platforms that can build their own robots and launch them-we can send a few dozen,maybe hundreds,of these things in different directions and explore the planets that astronomers have been finding recently and will find in the future. Of course,this is far into the future and would involve nanotechnology,advanced robotics and artificial intelligence but these are merely small hurdles to that goal in my opinion. We can figure all of this stuff out and we will unless there is a catastrophe before then. I know that as humans we would really like to send people into deep space but it is so dangerous that we would probably kill every crew that tried it or even worse they may have a psychological breakdown knowing that they are so far away and are stuck in a sealed metal box. If robots are lost,however,we just sigh and build another..Besides that,the technologies involved would employ tens of thousands of skilled people..     rant over

Oh, but we will jump into our cars and drive across town and die in the tens of thousands. The entire space programs casualty list is very short considering some human endeavours. In 2005 there were 6.2 million car accidents, 2.9 million injured and over 42,000 killed. That's one person every 13 minutes. Space is down right safe in comparison.

No other benefit other than to say we've been there?

Miniaturized computers, pacemakers, kevlar, mylar, the ability to track weather (which has saved thousands of lives), orthoscopic surgery, titanium metallurgy, rigid insulation, smoke detectors, MIR and CAT scans, artificial limbs, LEDs, LCDs, IR thermometors, digital mammography,  chromozone analysis, windshear avoidance and collision detection systems for airports, helmut padding for motorcycles and football, golfball technology, lightweight wheelchairs, rechargable batteries, cordless power tools, firefighter breathing apparatus and fire suits, Jaws of Life, lasers, cell phones, satallite TV, I could go on!

The benefits far out weigh any risk.

Dateline 1491 Christopher Columbus has called off his idiotic plan to sail around the world, as it is too dangerous to risk human lives on such a risky trek, not to mention the dearth of willing participants. "No tangible benefits" Queen Isobella stated today "besides, it was such a waste of the government's money".

 Apollo 13, by the way, was a success, and the astronauts and flight crew figured out how to get safely back to Earth.

I could care less about deep space exploration, except for robotic exploration. I'm more interested in near space industry. We could put our dangerous, but necessary, factories on the moon, which we could also mine for it's mineral content. Mars is ripe for the plucking, as well. Point of fact, is that mankind is quite willing to sit on their butts and not learn new technologies, and it is only through war and space research that we have progressed so far.

Dude, the post is talking about space models not space.

  It too expensive and dangerous to put humans into a radiation filled, -450 degree vacuum with really no benefit other than saying that we did it. It is difficult to find astronauts (due to the screening process) so ultimately very highly intelligent,intensively trained people are chosen,go into a low orbit and are killed when their vehicles disintegrate due to human error. Apollo 13 shows us what to could happen to a deep-space vehicle that runs into a life-or-death problem and how there would be no hope if they were tens of millions of miles away. We have no idea what to expect in deep space and would not be able to prepare for every possible problem..sooo    I agree with those people who advocate using robots instead of humans to explore deep space. Once we are capable of building special deep space vehicles-robotic platforms that can build their own robots and launch them-we can send a few dozen,maybe hundreds,of these things in different directions and explore the planets that astronomers have been finding recently and will find in the future. Of course,this is far into the future and would involve nanotechnology,advanced robotics and artificial intelligence but these are merely small hurdles to that goal in my opinion. We can figure all of this stuff out and we will unless there is a catastrophe before then. I know that as humans we would really like to send people into deep space but it is so dangerous that we would probably kill every crew that tried it or even worse they may have a psychological breakdown knowing that they are so far away and are stuck in a sealed metal box. If robots are lost,however,we just sigh and build another..Besides that,the technologies involved would employ tens of thousands of skilled people..     rant over 

The reason space is unpopular is that no war has yet been fought in it, and no real aggresive weapons have been deployed to it.     This is why space modeling is about as popular as, say, modeling of Queen Mary cruise ship.

 

 

I think the problem is cynicism. The dreams mankind had in the fifties and sixties of a bright new future among the stars have all turned to ash and blind rhetoric. The more we learn about space and the universe, the more apparent it becomes that Man will likely never escape this ball of rock we call home.

Added to that horrible accidents like Challenger and Columbia, and it's no wonder why kids no longer want to be astronauts. We've grown out of it.

Thank you for the information...question is, if I were to build from scratch, should I go 1/48 or 1/12 scale? ;)