Rants on the Exploration of Space

[brett_dunbar]

Modified and expanded from a comment I posted on james_nicoll.

One thing that really annoys me is when people equates exploration of space with manned space flight. We don't use manned space flight for exploration, the exploration is done with unmanned probes.

We are busily exploring the solar system right now, it's just we aren't bothering to waste money

Comments

[mmcirvin]

Since the space race as such was basically a psywar operation, being able to declare victory convincingly with a big splashy called shot like the moon landing might as well be a win. But the USSR did develop the far better manned spaceflight system for the long haul. If they'd just gotten the Zond heat shield to work in time the story would be very different.

One of the dumbest things about the current US plans is that the manned craft is Apollo-derived rather than a Soyuz type design like China is using; I can only conclude this is for reasons of pride.