"Frogwatch" wrote in message
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On Jul 20, 1:22 pm, thunder wrote:
On Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:52:19 -0700, Frogwatch wrote:
NASA wants to de-orbit the space station believe it or not in 2016.

Yup, $100 billion spent, a now that it's nearing completion? If NASA
wants to de-orbit the ISS, perhaps, it's time to de-orbit NASA.
Personally, I think they are just fishing for more $$, and more
projects.

I cannot even blame NASA, they did what seemed right, ending the
Saturn V top develop a "re-usable" cheap system except it is neither
reusable nor cheap. Thye all made a simple mistake with ending the
Saturn V.

Standing next to a Saturn V is a humbling experience. Frigging huge.
Amazing they worked as well as they did. How many million parts? NASA was
building a smaller, cheaper shuttle, and to get more money, accepted
military money to build a big delivery truck. They should have build 2
sizes. One for the big parts and a smaller one for research and delivery of
smaller stuff to orbit. Most of the satellites could have been deliver to
low orbit via a small shuttle. And a smaller shuttle could have been built
without the huge aux tanks and most likely fly from an airfield, not a
launch pad.