

NanoSail-D has been out of contact for a week.











Comments     Threshold


By corduroygt on 12/13/2010 2:02:06 PM , Rating: -1
What happened to the brilliant NASA of the 60s and 70s?

RE: Nanofail
By CheesePoofs on 12/13/2010 2:25:31 PM , Rating: 5
Nothing .. they too lost spacecraft.

RE: Nanofail
By theapparition on 12/13/2010 4:02:36 PM , Rating: 4
Americans lost thier way, not NASA.

NASA had countless setbacks, some even at the cost of human life, but always kept moving forward.

Part of that was the drive of exploration, part politics, and part because the American people loved the innovation. Because of these things, money poured in.

Then public interest dried up, politics no longer mattered, and more importatnly, people cared more about re-runs of MASH than NASA. Plus new regulations such as OSHA and EPA issues drove cost. Gone was the "let's light this candle and see what happens mentality", replaced by the "OMG, what happens if something goes wrong, how can we get sued". Liability costs start to skyrocket, prototypes can't get built easily, and funding dries up. Pefect storm of ineffectiveness that renders NASA a shell of what it used to be. Now just another beurocratic government organization that builds stacks of paper, rather than rockets.

RE: Nanofail
cared more about re-runs of MASH than NASA


RE: Nanofail


RE: Nanofail



RE: Nanofail
By JediJeb on 12/13/2010 4:46:27 PM , Rating: 2
This is why the next great achievements will probably come from the private sector. Groups like SpaceX are really starting to push into what was once a government only business.

If only we could get to the point envisioned by Robert Heinlein in Rocket Ship Galileo. where there are even amateur rocketry enthusiast with the ability to reach the moon an beyond.

