Did you know space travel is happening?

[Racecarlock]

Because space travel is happening.
http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/
http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/n.x/Armadillo/Home
http://www.blueorigin.com/
http://www.virgingalactic.com/

And the last company, Virgin Galactic? It's almost finished it's first fucking space port. I DIDN'T THINK I'D SEE THAT IN MY LIFE! This is unbelievably exciting. I mean, did anyone predict this? Are you not glad to be at this point in time where space travel will finally go commercial? And last of all, how do you feel about this? I'm incredibly excited. I mean, this is it. This is really it. We're here. We've held anti matter for 11 minutes, we discovered a small particle that may or may not be able to out run light, we've discovered a new form of plasma. We have computers in our pockets and games with great graphics. We are at the beginning of the future that 2001 predicted. We are here. And it's glorious.

 

[Tanakh]

I might sound a little bitter, but what is the fundamental difference between this and what the Soviet Union did in 1961?

After a quick check, all i saw was sub orbital and orbital flights for cargo and passengers.

 

[reg42]

As someone who has always been extremely interested in space, this has made my day. I need to do this at some point in my life.

 

[Racecarlock]

I might sound a little bitter, but what is the fundamental difference between this and what the Soviet Union did in 1961?

After a quick check, all i saw was sub orbital and orbital flights for cargo and passengers.

It's friggin SPACE dude. Ok, it's not quite the moon. It's still the beginning of the fucking future. Seriously, did you think you'd ever see a SPACE PORT in your life time?

Edit: Excuse my excitement, I'm just as excited about space as the space core from portal 2 was.

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

This is on my list of destinations to get to before I die. I'm really interested to see how far things will advance before I'm dead, right now it's looking pretty fucking interesting.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

A space port....

Excuse me, I think I need another pair of pants.

While the whole Ark expedition thing ain't happening until artificial gravity or extremely fast transport happens, I'm glad to see a renewed interest in space. Probably not in my life time but maybe when my children are going to University they'll hear about laboratories built on the moon for experiments.

Exciting stuff indeed.

 

[Internet Kraken]

This sounds like a colossal waste of money and resources for very insubstantial gain. Not exactly thrilling.

 

[Tanakh]

It's friggin SPACE dude. Ok, it's not quite the moon. It's still the beginning of the fucking future. Seriously, did you think you'd ever see a SPACE PORT in your life time?

An earth space port? Sure, AFAIK the first one was done in 1955. An space station? Well, that is more recent, still done before i was born.

TBH i am not a space enthusiast, but i am genuinely confused here, that's why i am asking what is new about this. Even space truism is 10-20 years old.

 

[the spud]

Every time I hear a big new scientific breakthrough, my excitement is always dampened somewhat when I remember this: Fuck the U.N.

Seriously, we could be way further along than we ae now if they hadn't put so many damn regulations on scientific progress. There was a project (Orion, I think) that was the closest anyone has ever gotten to making a ship travel at near light speeds. But then those lemonheads step in and say nobody can test anything involving nuclear explosions, just because one to ten people might die, and the entire project was canceled. Bullshit.

 

[Yomandude]

This sounds like a colossal waste of money and resources for very insubstantial gain. Not exactly thrilling.

How so? Do you not believe space travel is an endeavor worth funding?

Every time I hear a big new scientific breakthrough, my excitement is always dampened somewhat when I remember this: Fuck the U.N.

Seriously, we could be way further along than we ae now if they hadn't put so many damn regulations on scientific progress. There was a project (Orion, I think) that was the closest anyone has ever gotten to making a ship travel at near light speeds. But then those lemonheads step in and say nobody can test anything involving nuclear explosions, just because one to ten people might die, and the entire project was canceled. Bullshit.

Ha. Ha.

 

[the spud]

This sounds like a colossal waste of money and resources for very insubstantial gain. Not exactly thrilling.

How so? Do you not believe space travel is an endeavor worth funding?

Every time I hear a big new scientific breakthrough, my excitement is always dampened somewhat when I remember this: Fuck the U.N.

Seriously, we could be way further along than we ae now if they hadn't put so many damn regulations on scientific progress. There was a project (Orion, I think) that was the closest anyone has ever gotten to making a ship travel at near light speeds. But then those lemonheads step in and say nobody can test anything involving nuclear explosions, just because one to ten people might die, and the entire project was canceled. Bullshit.

Ha. Ha.

Don't believe me? Bam (I hope you trust wikipedia).

I don't think it would have gotten us to interplanetary travel right away, maybe never, but it was certainly interesting enough to keep alive.

 

[Stammer]

Not just space travel, I'm still comprehending the fact that we have people living in space right now. In fact, I read something that one of the Russian companies are currently developing little hotels to be put into orbit. It'll cost a lot of money, sure, but holy shit! Wouldn't that be an awesome vacation.

Hopefully in the next 30'ish years space travel/space living will become a little cheaper, and by then I'll have some money (key word: hopefully) and will be able to go up into space myself.

 

[Ninonybox_v1legacy]

One step closer to colonization.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

A space port....

Excuse me, I think I need another pair of pants.

While the whole Ark expedition thing ain't happening until artificial gravity or extremely fast transport happens, I'm glad to see a renewed interest in space. Probably not in my life time but maybe when my children are going to University they'll hear about laboratories built on the moon for experiments.

Exciting stuff indeed.

i think your post summed up this thread and my views perfectly...do you happen to have a spare pair of pants?

OT: I don't know if i should scream in excitement because of it being real, or be extremely disappointed because i don't know if i'll have the time/money to be apart of this =\

 

[Robert Ewing]

I was only aware that virgin were doing a form of space tourism.

Still very cool though

 

[Bazaalmon]

The problem with Orion is that it might rain nuclear fallout over the entire planet, exterminating all life as we know it.
Also, as far as I know, the NASA spaceship design hasn't been seriously revamped in the last 3 decades or so...I don't know about you, but I think a more recent design is necessary before we try to break the existing physics barrier.

 

[Cowabungaa]

This sounds like a colossal waste of money and resources for very insubstantial gain. Not exactly thrilling.

How else do you suppose a thing like this starts? How else would you start a development like this, how do you suppose that we ever advance in this field if it weren't for one baby step at a time?

But then those lemonheads step in and say nobody can test anything involving nuclear explosions, just because one to ten people might die, and the entire project was canceled. Bullshit.

Really? Shit goes wrong with spaceships pretty often. It's bad enough without nuclear detonations, just imagine if an Orion launch goes wrong. It's really only a viable propulsion technology when we can launch ships from, say, the moon or some sub-orbital platform at least.

 

[Chemical Alia]

Yeah, I went to a talk with John Carmack and Richard Garriott last year at Quakecon and heard them talk all about their respective programs, and what they hope to see in the future for commercial space travel. Richard Garriot even had photos from his trip, it was awesome.