Ideasabound

I woke up on my birthday and went to read the news. Those that know me well, know that I love space and science fiction. When I learned that Neil Armstrong had died, my first thought was not sadness but that he was old. After all people die; even the great ones and the heros. My second thought was that of the men who walked on the moon, only 8 remain. Buzz Aldrin (11), Al Bean (12), Edgar Mitchell (14), David Scott (15), John Young (16), Charles Duke (16), Gene Cernan (17), & Jack Schmitt (17). Of all the crews that flew on Apollo only the crews of 8, 9, 10, and 16 are all still with us. My birthday wish: Before all these men and the people who supported them leave us, we should be back in deep space. I would hope that before Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt die (last men to walk on the moon) that we land humans back on the Moon or on Mars. Neil Armstrong will always be remembered for Apollo 11 but we must remember he was also the commander of the first in-space emergency; G...

If the goal now is to land humans to Asteroids and Mars, we had better give ourselves the ability to develop and test technology and procedures as well as train astronauts for the challenge of flying in space. Currently Russia in cooperation with the European Space Agency and China are looking at the psychological aspects of a flight to Mars. But it does not include flying but just being locked in a big Earth-bound simulator. We know the effects of long-term micro-gravity exposure in space through the ISS and Russia’s multiple space stations like MIR. President Obama has called for pushing technology so we can get places faster. In the near future, a plasma engine is going to be brought to the ISS for testing. But the ISS doesn’t fly the way a spacecraft would. It doesn’t need to change orbit, plane nor change orientation and speed. We need a spacecraft that actually tests out the plasma engine in orbit doing more advanced maneuvers. Of course this can be done unmanned but event...