----- Original Message -----
From: "Helen Gordon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2005 10:31 AM
Subject: Re: OT: Discovery is home
> I need to know what they did. A space walk to remove a piece of foam from
> the undercarriage? Oh well.... maybe it was worth the $100,000,000.00 they
> spent for the shot.
>
Aside from anything else, consider that there are some 300,000,000 people in
the US; that works out to about 33-cents each for this little safari. When I
compare that to some of the other wondrous projects my tax dollars go for, it
just seems like a helluva good deal to me.
Additionally, when one considers multiple aspects of space
exploration/utilization, a better appreciation can be had in regard to what has
been realized in less than 50 years. (Yes, it is STILL less than 50 years since
the first man-made object was lofted into space in the autumn of 1957!)
Virtually all major expansions of the human race have been accompanied by fits
and starts, 2 steps forward and 1 step back, trying one thing and if it doesn't
work, try something else, etc. Exploration is, essentially by definition,
"going where no man has gone before," and there is, again by definition, no
roadmap of how to get there. I could write reams on this subject, but it has
already been done by many with more talent in that direction than I have.
As to the benefits of the "space program" in general, I may have a parochial
view, since I (as well as almost everyone else in the US and much of the world,
whether they know it or not) reap those benefits many times per day. As I type
this, I am living in (to me) much desired relative solitude, at the end of the
proverbial "15 miles of bad road," but my internet connection is pretty darn
speedy, and makes use of a geosynchronous satellite located over the equator at
95 West longitude. I enjoy some 200 channels of digital quality TV and music,
and have essentially real-time high quality video and audio feeds of events
from around the world.
You don't need satellite since you have cable? How do you think your cable
provider gets his programming? Every hear of the Global Positioning System
(GPS)? That is possible because, you guessed it, we have multiple satellites in
orbit providing the signals needed to tell you how to get to the nearest
McDonalds... Use your credit card for purchases at Wal*Mart, your local gas
station, or a multitude of other retail outlets? Odds are pretty good that the
authorization was handled via satellite.
I will not further belabor this, but will say that, in my opinion, if all man's
presence in space were suddenly removed, civilization as we now know it would
by totally disrupted. A pretty well spent 33-cents! </soapbox>
"Ad astra!"
-
Bill Hatcher
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
-
--
----------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Is your picture included in the Official Win-Home List Members Profiles Page?
http://www.besteffort.com/winhome/Profiles.html
If not, write to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
