You NASA geeks will like this!

[Gard]

I'm goin' with Bryan on this one, gimme the real deal!

 

[jrthebassguy]

I worked as a tour guide at the Johnson Space Center for nearly three years, and it definitely instilled a love of NASA/space things in me. Seeing the Shuttle and ISS mission control rooms on relatively regular basis is definitely something most people don't get the pleasure of doing in their lifetime, and I'm glad I worked there (even though my privately owned company I actually worked for is basically a joke.) There are certainly worse jobs to be had at 18 years old.



In fact, I hope to get a real job with NASA or one of their contractors someday.

 

[Tsal]

So, this is going to be the replacement? What do you geeks think, is it a step forward, or a step back?

It's interesting that they choose to fund the Orion, if they already have the COTS project going on, having the smaller private sector companies developing similar vehicles.

 

[stratovani]

So how does one go about getting a job at NASA? It must be something working at the VAB or any other building at Kennedy Space Center. Just curious, mind you...

 

[peterbright]

So how does one go about getting a job at NASA? It must be something working at the VAB or any other building at Kennedy Space Center. Just curious, mind you...

Fill out a job application.

 

[Gard]

So, this is going to be the replacement? What do you geeks think, is it a step forward, or a step back?

It's interesting that they choose to fund the Orion, if they already have the COTS project going on, having the smaller private sector companies developing similar vehicles.

While Orion appears superficially to be a "step back" (i.e. it LOOKS like an Apollo capsule), it is actually VERY advanced in many ways. It is also designed to be less costly to operate by a wide margin than the Shuttle system. Further, it is capable of interplanetary flight, which the Shuttle will never be. It can be launched by a variety of different systems, with different capacities, which is what gives it this ability. The Shuttle is ONLY capable of being launched in one way, and this only allows LEO capacity (sub 300 nautical mi. orbits) without severely hampering payload capacity - you either lift "stuff" or you lift the fuel necessary to achieve higher orbits.

That said, I have great hopes for the future of launch capacity based on some of the private ventures I've seen. They are what will make off-earth ventures happen, they will drive down the cost of launches, not a government agency.

I think both are good developments, the "big systems" (i.e. ISS, Orion) are TOO BIG for private development, and without them, things like a semi-permanent presence on the moon or manned missions to Mars, etc. won't happen soon, if at all. However, giving the ability to reach orbit for the average person, which will eventually lead to being able to actually make commercial use of microgravity enviroments, that will be done via private companies.

Man, I think way too much about this stuff!