$10 says it’s going to be a Starship variant, possibly with extra engines and cold gas thrusters.
I wonder if anyone will counter propose to put the whole thing in a parking orbit as a museum piece.
I wonder if anyone will counter propose to put the whole thing in a parking orbit as a museum piece.
This is what I’ve been thinking. I assume it hasn’t been on the table because it would be hugely expensive and difficult (due to the station not being designed for the kind of burns needed to substantially boost its orbit). But honestly, I’d much rather see funds and research devoted to preserving such a significant piece of space flight history over manned trips to the moon and mars.
But honestly, I’d much rather see funds and research devoted to preserving such a significant piece of space flight history over manned trips to the moon and mars
What?
As cool as those missions would be, we can go to the moon or Mars anytime. We only have until the end of the ISS’ life to park it into a safe orbit, and doing so means one of the most significant pieces of early spaceflight technology is preserved for future generations to put into a museum. In 3000 years, future generations will care more about being able to see the earliest preserved space station than the first mission to Mars being in 2043 instead of 2037
I respectfully disagree, no one outside of the space flight community remembers the names of the Astronauts on Apollo 10. Everyone knows who Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are, few have seen or care to see the Apollo 11 capsule . Most of the public knows who Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Sir Frances Drake, Ferdinand Magellan. No one outside of a few historians and history buffs care about the Vasa.
I’d rather invest money in expanding the human experience rather than sacrifice it for an altar full of relics.
You’re welcome to your opinion, though I think it’s extremely shortsighted. It also strips down the value of historic artifacts to merely their tourist appeal. You say “altar full of relics” seemingly to dismiss the notion, but literal relics are a crucial reason why we know anything about our history at all. I’d like to think that historians of the future, at a minimum, would appreciate it if the ISS was boosted to a stable orbit instead of burning up.
Historian: Looks at dusty broken space station through a telescope as he listens to the radio carrying the words of the first Chinese man to walk on mars.
Yeah we made the right call saving that station.
Put a nuke in it and detonate when it’s over Australia at night, make sure the nuke has enough megatons to make it daylight, that’ll show em
My wife was like “aww, that’s kinda sad”
Then I read “put a nuke in it” and busted out laughing at the juxtaposition of tone.
All that does is scatter radioactive bits and parts all over the earth
Hey it was a proposal, they didn’t specify whether it had to be good
I want HD cameras recording the whole thing. Inside and out!