Empty Low Earth orbit

[supernova1965]

Anyone wanting to image the ISS will have to get it done before 2020 as they plan to de-orbit and sink it in the pacific we really are pulling back from space now:mad2::sadeyes:

http://www.inewsone.com/2011/07/27/iss-to-be-de-orbited-sunk-in-pacific-after-2020/65381

[big_dav_2001]

That should be one heck of a show when it comes down!!

Davin
:cheers:

[jenchris]

Makes me think the federation of planets has told us to pull our horns in until we get over our internal strife and international wars....

"Humanity is banned from extra planetary excursions until further notice"

[TrevorW]

It always surprised me they can built $100billion structures and then just dump them surely it could be enhanced and expanded

what they need is an architect not an engineer to remodel it

[AdrianF]

Seems to me an awful waste of money.

Adrian

[multiweb]

I would have thought before discarding the space shuttle program they'd go get Hubble on the way down from the ISS and put it in a museum somewhere. The HST was a milestone. Seems wrong to let it burn up.

[AdrianF]

Make a great picture when it does come down tho.

Adrian

[Kevnool]

It will be the end of another era.

Shuttle gone
ISS gone

NASA well ?

Cheers Kev.

[FlashDrive]

Your right their Kev ..... NASA well ?
A lot of people lost their jobs over this :( .... even people who have been with NASA for 30 years or more.

Flash.

[Waxing_Gibbous]

All that money p*****-away.
We could've built a honking great radio telescope on the other side of the moon for what ISS cost. Got some proper science done.
They could at least turn it into a Space Hotel and re-coup some of the cash from bored billionaires.

[michaellxv]

It will be a shame to see it go, but this is longer than its design life.

The next step should be design and construction of something big enough to be a permanent space station. Someone wake me up i'm dreaming again....

[supernova1965]

You mean like this one:thumbsup:

[michaellxv]

Yes, or something like this.

[Ric]

Sadly we are going backwards faster than we are going forward.

[renormalised]

At the rate things are going, we won't be seeing anything like the spacedock for many, many years. Probably even well after the time of "Star Trek". We won't be able to build anything like that until we have major industrialisation in space, plus a few technological breakthroughs to support building and running a station like this.

[renormalised]

Yep, very unfortunate. And, it's not just with the space program either.

[supernova1965]

It has always been said that when a Civilisation stops exploring that is when it starts to lose the world view in this case the Universal view then it falls apart who said this I don't know but it seems to be backed up by history.:sadeyes:

[michaellxv]

People were dreaming of flying and going to the moon long before anyone seriously thought it a viable proposition. We are in a similar situation, but that's no reason to stop trying.

[renormalised]

I never said to stop imagining it. Just that we won't actually have it till whenever.

[Jules76]

Wow you could easily be mistaken for thinking you just walked into a funeral judging by the vibe in this thread. A lot can happen in 8+ years this isn't the end of space exploration.

[renormalised]

The US is standing on the edge of a cliff and if they're not careful, they'll go over the edge. They're in trouble and don't expect NASA to survive this unscathed. Continuing space exploration will be the least of their concerns if they collapse into a heap.

[multiweb]

ESA hopefully keeps going.

[renormalised]

Hopefully, but the EU are in trouble as well. I think they'll be the West's shining star in space for some conceivable time.