The Dork Who Fell To Earth

[frustratedpilot]

(I think theidolhands might want to hear about this little "space oddity".)

Today, my buddy Paul gave me an audio CD copy of content he acquired though his Disney contacts...

...Soundtracks from the Moonliner and Mission To Mars attractions at the Disney theme parks

Comments

[tochiro998]

I think Glenco Models still has the Moonliner available, or they pop them out every once in a while. I always wanted to tackle that kit. It's strange how it looks like the landing gear retracts but it doesn't, I wonder if the original Strombecker kit had retracting legs.

*sigh*

That audio stuff is gold, man, pure gold. I envy you!

I'm not sure if that shot of Mission Control is from the original 'set up', everything looks a little too 'Gemini' and not '50s version of the future, but I'm probably wrong.

I rode Mission to Mars at Disneyland in 1984, and it was really more fun than I expected. I went in all "I know the tricks, I know the techniques, I'm just doing this to see it" and damn if by the time it was over I DID feel I had taken a trip and not just sitting in a little theater. The magic worked.

but of course I am pre-disposed to believe, deep down inside.

I'll stop now before I launch into a rant how, at the end of this year, the U.S. will have no organic man-rated space lift capability. How can that be? HOW? How can the entire American aerospace industry turn their back on this? Grr, see? ranting? I'm sure not that different from what you think. :)

[frustratedpilot]

Since the dummies' costumes read "McDonnell-Douglas", it would have to be from after 1967 when the two companies merged.

And by privatizing space travel, how exactly is it supposed to SAVE the nation money? I don't understand that at all.

[tochiro998]

Yeah, I couldn't quite make that out but...yeah.

What proof do we have that anyone has any serious interest in pushing space further? So OK, maybe the novelty of lofting up to the edge of space will be a thrill for the few that can afford it and more power to them (altho if I understand it properly, passengers will spend something like 10x the time getting to launch altitude then actually spend in space. yawn).

But nobody is building Shuttle 2.0 let alone something BETTER. Nobody is using shuttle COMPONENTS like those powerful main engines or the SRBs (what happened to the ideas of unmanned heavy lifters built from these things? remember that?)

While I wasn't happy that 'fat Apollo' was the replacement, at least it was something.

Stupid, stupid.

I blame the aerospace companies as well. They couldn't see the writing on the wall even now, that milking the contract crap "well, sure we can do that...um...we need another 5 years and a bunch more Billion Dollars, please" just wasn't SMART anymore, not when NASA is always on the knife edge of having their budget cut, ALWAYS getting less money.

Good lord, ship 15% of the unspent 'stimulus' money to NASA and get some jobs going building some new shuttles, that's job creation and blah blah.

my brain, she s'plodes.

[frustratedpilot]

I wasn't so much reacting to the space tourist "shuttlecock" machines as I was to the idea of NASA relying on private providers for getting astronauts and cargo to the ISS.

The problem with the stimulus program is the red tape and the fact that the regulator agencies are watching everything like hawks.