Okay, gotcha. But I am the fifth generation of a seventh generation family who lives in the town across the Intracoastal from KSC. My father hobnobbed with Werher Von Braun; my in-laws worked on the early programs. My mother-in-law worked through most of the shuttle program and my father-in-law was an engineer with NASA and other contractors throughout his lengthy career.
I'm one of the few people in the area who pay little attention to the space program. My family were boat builders, real estate owners, laborers, etc. The only time it interests me is when I live near a NASA weatherman, and I know when they say a hurricane is coming our way, I know we need to take action (our coast has currents that steer storms away from us 99% of the time--or it could be an old Indian curse, as we locals like to play up). I rarely know when a launch is going up. I was once driving and saw the bright light in the sky and called my office to see what rocket went up. "It was a shuttle," they said. I did not know because I was on a back road and not playing, "miss the tourist" with other locals as the tourists walked across a major highway thinking the locals would just stop and let them meander by.
The most surprised I've been in years about something at the program was the SpaceX blow up on the pad that rocked us out of our seats. But I watched the different programs launch from my front yard. I generally remain inside and only swallow the poisonous chemicals that might come through my AC. And before they knew better, I watched the first launch from our local beach at the wildlife refuge. I think they only did that once. I don't believe we put that much money into any program to convince the Russians we're ahead of them. And I don't believe Elon Musk would have gone smaller and would have insisted that NASA did it the wrong way (he was right) if he had not learned from NASA's programs, their successes and their failures. And those engineers that worked out there, they were brilliant. We may think these SpaceX kids are geniuses, and they are, but I'd like to see them work calculations with a slide rule and not a computer.
I saw the atmosphere change here during the shuttle program. There was a lack of pride. Challenger's tragedy should never have happened. They rushed that launch on a day that saw temperatures below most we see here. The O-ring was bound to fail. We knew, through our very shaken neighbor that there wasn't a 50% chance of Columbia's landing. They didn't even try to save that crew. "Failure is not an option" fell to the wayside, and I think it had to eventually so that Elon Musk could bring that back. Yes, Elon has failed, but we see that old spirit in these new geniuses. They don't mind failing because it is a learning process that protects those in the manned flights.
Yeah, not a space program fan. Probably know more than I should because of my lack of interest, but I do believe we landed on the moon.
Mars? I think they are ridiculous to try. The time range to get there ... forget it.
Okay, gotcha. But I am the fifth generation of a seventh generation family who lives in the town across the Intracoastal from KSC. My father hobnobbed with Werher Von Braun; my in-laws worked on the early programs. My mother-in-law worked through most of the shuttle program and my father-in-law was an engineer with NASA and other contractors throughout his lengthy career. I'm one of the few people in the area who pay little attention to the space program. My family were boat builders, real estate owners, laborers, etc. The only time it interests me is when I live near a NASA weatherman, and I know when they say a hurricane is coming our way, I know we need to take action (our coast has currents that steer storms away from us 99% of the time--or it could be an old Indian curse, as we locals like to play up). I rarely know when a launch is going up. I was once driving and saw the bright light in the sky and called my office to see what rocket went up. "It was a shuttle," they said. I did not know because I was on a back road and not playing, "miss the tourist" with other locals as the tourists walked across a major highway thinking the locals would just stop and let them meander by. The most surprised I've been in years about something at the program was the SpaceX blow up on the pad that rocked us out of our seats. But I watched the different programs launch from my front yard. I generally remain inside and only swallow the poisonous chemicals that might come through my AC. And before they knew better, I watched the first launch from our local beach at the wildlife refuge. I think they only did that once. I don't believe we put that much money into any program to convince the Russians we're ahead of them. And I don't believe Elon Musk would have gone smaller and would have insisted that NASA did it the wrong way (he was right) if he had not learned from NASA's programs, their successes and their failures. And those engineers that worked out there, they were brilliant. We may think these SpaceX kids are geniuses, and they are, but I'd like to see them work calculations with a slide rule and not a computer. I saw the atmosphere change here during the shuttle program. There was a lack of pride. Challenger's tragedy should never have happened. They rushed that launch on a day that saw temperatures below most we see here. The O-ring was bound to fail. We knew, through our very shaken neighbor that there wasn't a 50% chance of Columbia's landing. They didn't even try to save that crew. "Failure is not an option" fell to the wayside, and I think it had to eventually so that Elon Musk could bring that back. Yes, Elon has failed, but we see that old spirit in these new geniuses. They don't mind failing because it is a learning process that protects those in the manned flights. Yeah, not a space program fan. Probably know more than I should because of my lack of interest, but I do believe we landed on the moon. Mars? I think they are ridiculous to try. The time range to get there ... forget it.