British bloke goes into space... why all the fuss?

[Over The Hill]

MAN GOES INTO SPACE!

HOW THE fark DOES THAT NOT ROCK YOUR WORLD!?

Of the 536, three people completed only a sub-orbital flight, 533 people reached Earth orbit, 24 traveled beyond low Earth orbit and 12 walked on the Moon. Space travelers have spent over 29,000 person-days (or a cumulative total of over 77 years) in space including over 100 person-days of spacewalks.

I think we became less rocked when it went past the 100 mark.
But oh wow he is British. Worthy of a 5 minute slot on the local news channel before they cut to the house with too many Christmas decorations but that is about it.

 

[BrumJim]

I would love to experience weightlessness, but I think I'll settle for 1 stone nearer instead.

 

[MichaelW2]

Originally ISS was designed as a project to keep Russian rocket scientists from making mischief, and to give the space shuttle somewhere to go. The shuttle/ISS combo is perhaps the worst use of space-dollars you could ever conceive.
The science done by rovers on Mars, comet landings and flypasts of distant moons yields far more than a 6 month stay on ISS. The only science that needs ISS is to measure how quickly the human body degrades under conditions of near orbit. Every other science experiment could be done for a fraction of the price in un-manned, remotely controlled experimental modules.
Given the cost of ISS to date has been over $150 billion, you could do an awful lot of science with that.

 

[MontyVeda]

MAN GOES INTO SPACE!

HOW THE fark DOES THAT NOT ROCK YOUR WORLD!?

536th person goes into space 54 years after the first manned space flight... I'm just not feeling it.
Even sticking the word 'official' in front of 'British' isn't doing it for me.

Move along... nothing to see here.

 

[John the Monkey]

Look at the kids faces..stop being grumpy old farts

You do realise that this is the internet, I hope?

 

[Profpointy]

Originally ISS was designed as a project to keep Russian rocket scientists from making mischief, and to give the space shuttle somewhere to go. The shuttle/ISS combo is perhaps the worst use of space-dollars you could ever conceive.
The science done by rovers on Mars, comet landings and flypasts of distant moons yields far more than a 6 month stay on ISS. The only science that needs ISS is to measure how quickly the human body degrades under conditions of near orbit. Every other science experiment could be done for a fraction of the price in un-manned, remotely controlled experimental modules.
Given the cost of ISS to date has been over $150 billion, you could do an awful lot of science with that.

There's a lot of truth in that.

That said, there probably is still a case for manned spaceflight - moonbase, mars base - maybe even Encaladus in due course, which will need a lot of closer-to-earth projects to prepare the ground. ISS / shuttle probably wasn't the best was though

 

[Inertia]

It's such an amazing achievement. I get really excited about rocket launches and it's rubbed off on Ian Jnr (5yo). I recorded the show as he was in school and we watched it together this evening. He then said that he also watched it in school

get him into Kerbal Space Program He could be a future astronaut

 

[screenman]

MontyVeda, out of interest what does do it for you news wise.

I must admit around the garages today there have been a lot of talk about the flight etc.

 

[ianrauk]

get him into Kerbal Space Program He could be a future astronaut

Cheers. I'll show it to him

 

[Inertia]

Cheers. I'll show it to him

It could be a little tricky as he is young, but you could probably have fun building rockets together. Then watching the inevitable catastrophe when you realise you forgot add a parachute, or enough fuel or a heat shield...

 

[ianrauk]

It could be a little tricky as he is young, but you could probably have fun building rockets together. Then watching the inevitable catastrophe when you realise you forgot add a parachute, or enough fuel or a heat shield...

He's a wiz on the computer already and having IT lessons in school, so may not be beyond him... me on the other hand...

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Cheers. I'll show it to him

Will he have to wear a helmet? (I'm now going to run away and hide...)

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

My nephew decided at a very young age he wanted to be an astronaut. At age 11, he wrote to NASA and they put him in touch with St Andrews University who helped him choose the subjects to specialise in at school. They told him to study geology as future manned missions will need geologists. Coincidentally, his uncle used to be the chief geologist at a company used by the big oil companies so he gave him a lot of advice. He has just started university (the first in my immediate family to do so) starting geology and remains as focused and determined as ever. I'm immensely proud of him and I'm sure he'll achieve his dream.

 

[Inertia]

My nephew decided at a very young age he wanted to be an astronaut. At age 11, he wrote to NASA and they put him in touch with St Andrews University who helped him choose the subjects to specialise in at school. They told him to study geology as future manned missions will need geologists. Coincidentally, his uncle used to be the chief geologist at a company used by the big oil companies so he gave him a lot of advice. He has just started university (the first in my immediate family to do so) starting geology and remains as focused and determined as ever. I'm immensely proud of him and I'm sure he'll achieve his dream.

That's interesting as that would imply land based missions. Reminds of the show "From the Earth to the Moon" where they taught Apollo astronauts geology so they could retrieve useful rocks from the Moon. It makes sense that its easier to teach a geologist to be an astronaut than the other way around. I hope he makes it

 

[Lonestar]

I went into space when I went over the handlebars....