And you ain't seen nothin, yet...

Jeanne Calmet (1875-1997), the longest documented human lifespan to date. (122.45 years)

But I see his point. I've long thought the time would come when there would always be at least one human off-planet, but we wouldn't really know it, until well after the fact.

Closer to the truth, is the ancient Greek expression:

"When they'd whine, "But the Shuttle can only stay in Low Earth Orbit! "

Gold does have useful industrial properties (electrical contacts that don't corrode or tarnish, and is a good infrared reflector, for example) it's not limited to jewelry, any more than copper or diamond is. But like water*, it's likely you can find it in places where no one will even remotely get in your way, if you…

Robertdarudeboy, they had their own. Flew it once, successfully, but unmanned. (Though it was eventually meant to be manned. And it's still the largest object they've returned from space). They ended that program with other orbiters in various stages of construction. The one that flew was destroyed many years later,…

That would depend very much on what they were doing there.

What makes you think they can't be one and the same?

That's an argument for reducing the cost of manned space flight (not all 'space flight' is 'space exploration,' BTW. If anything, there will be more human activity in space for non-exploratory purposes), not an argument for not doing it at all. It assumes that it has an irreducible cost below which it can't be…

As Legios has well said (except that it's not 'a' next generation spacecraft, there are four of them in the works...Google CCDev), the US has not left space to begin with...

And, that picture was of a Soviet/Russian launcher...

Yeah, there are limits. A woman (or man) who dresses like an armored truck, will have the agility of one...

Yeah, there are limits. A woman (or man) who dresses like an armored truck, will have the agility of one...

"It's the same as the invulnerable superheroine shaking her boobs at us in skimpy clothing just because she's bulletproof."

Yeah, but as with Power Girl (who can't help it...covered or not, they're just there) you have to admit there's a certain 'distraction value,' when going up against a (straight) male opponent.

My concern is that, plus its eventual availability. We survived the nuclear age, because nukes are hard to make, and those that have them so far, understand how much they stand to lose.

Amen to that.

Yeah, but that isn't something we would bring upon ourselves (except to the extent that we must continue to develop space flight and astronomy, so when there is a big rock with our name on it, we'll both see it in time, and be able to do something about it)...

The survivors of Dirk's scenario that took the vaccination, will be ample proof that Darwin is still at work...