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NickDG

Cost Effective . . . ?

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The Russians use good spotting, a pack job, and a freshly plowed field. . .



And it should also be noted they've had more than what I would consider a reasonable rate of total malfunctions.

To date, I think the US has only had one re-entry mishap resulting in the loss of life.
quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

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The Russians have shown themselves to be very practical, and rarely discard something that works. Note that they use retro rockets to soften the landing. Our capsules, of course, used water landings to soften the blow.

We'll be returning to capsule technology soon. It's proven, reliable, and I'm guessing cheaper per seat than using the shuttle. The shuttle, although a magnificent feat of engineering, has not lived up to it's claim to be a "space truck." It's a high strung Ferrari of a flying machine, and has some disastrous failure modes, as the world has seen. Some day we'll return to orbit in winged machines, but some major technological advances need to happen to make it the mode of choice again.

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The irony is that a couple years before we shot Alan Shepard into space in a Mercury capsule, we already had a winged rocket ship that was being tested to put men into space; the X-15.

It would have been interesting to see where space flight had gone if NASA had chosen to go down the path already in place rather than strapping men onto ICBMs. Unfortunately, that was really part of the point of the earliest days of the Mercury program anyway; to prove to the Russians we could deliver our weapons around the globe.
quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

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Von Braun was against the moon missions. He wanted an orbiting space station which would have been much easier and cost effective to launch missions. He thought the moon program was a dog and pony show.
Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

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Von Braun was against the moon missions. He wanted an orbiting space station which would have been much easier and cost effective to launch missions. He thought the moon program was a dog and pony show.



Agree with CSpence.
It was.

THIS Book, Dark Side of the Moon is about the real reasons we went to the moon.

Mostly as a political "Dog and Pony" show.
"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

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