I can see where Kiligan is coming from, not too many mention the explosion in Nigeria where at least three times as many people died.
But this is about the space program so it will headline all the entire news even if the casualties were "low", if casualties ever can be called that, compare to other accidents.
Listen! Im not going to go into a huge debate over this.
I watched 7 people die on Saturday, 7 people that risked their lives to better humanity.
Doing research that could no be done on earth.
Only certain metals can be mixed in space. Metals that can one day treat disease and all sorts of other things.
I understand that people die everyday and that every loss is tragic. I dont understand why someone has to blantantly come into this thread and dishonor the memories of those seven brave people. The research they did over those 16 days might save your life one day Killgan!
Indeed. And they risked their lives to push back frontiers. But the practical fact is they we cannot pretend they were bringing great beneift to humanity when they were not. They were part of the human dream of looking outside what we currently have, which is admirable, and it should be left at that- like I say, the research benefit is almost zero.
And in fact, almost none of the research they do, of the sort you mean, actually needs a human component; it is all pretty much automatic. There will be increasing calls now to do away with pointlessly risking human lives in space when robots can do all the research work.
The only work that requires humans relates to future space exploration (and in fact such work was taking up 80% of Colombia's time). Which, as I say, is to be saluted in tis own right but it doesn't actually improve things for people on Earth.
There was a special ....talk show today about it...
I was surprised on the public's oppinions. They're basicly divided into pro and against american ppl. Most of the guyz engaged in techincal details WAY out of their league. Almost none of them mentioned the HUMAN loss, instead of technical. Ofcourse..there were many to have had 'perfect' solutions for this situation. "ooh..they were cheap on the revisions" "ooh, they were neglijent".
And above all...one sick fuck (he was 18 immagine that) sugested that they should've taken another shuttle to pick them up...while they were coming in 😖ick:
Listen, I don't want to start some damn debate, but I beleive it is an insult to brush off the deaths of these seven people.
These individuals were not up in space drinking beers and playing Playstation, they were up there for the benefit of mankind. What the details and goals were of this particular mission, I don't know. But I don't need to know. Studying space is one of the most important plans for the future. I think this because, eventually, human beings will use up all of Earths resources. It's not going to happen tomorrow, but it's there. . . you know what I mean?
Members of NASA arn't playing BINGO to see who is next in line to fly around the Earth. This isn't a game.
I don't mean to insult the intelegence of those here who disagree with me. But some of the most powerful and thoughtful people in the world beleive that space exploration is a very important part of our future. How else would you explain it's funding for so many years?
And I really don't like this attitude of "Well, they shouldn't have been up there in the first place."
Most importantly, and personally, I feel for Tex. This poor dude watched it with his own eyes. I'm sure we all saw it on TV, but Tex saw the God damn ship break apart in the sky above his house. Can any of you compete with that trama? Then he comes here to talk about it, and you guys tell him it doesn't matter? Who the hell are any of you to say such things?
The behavior around here is not cool, sometimes. Not cool at all.
we just tried to explain things To, I know it is a great blow to you Americans to loose things in the space programs. But people have different opinion about the space program, and it is allowed to not see it eye to eye with those who belive in the space program. I think what Kiligan tried to say is that there are events worse than this one around the world but as long as they aint american it doesnt get covered so much press coverage. The media seem to think that events in USA is bigger news than events in other parts of the world
Can any of you compete with that trama?
No one said it doesnt matter, try to read the post and understand the context of them before bursting out with your "fingerpointing " attitude.
The shuttle exploded, 7 people died. Tragic event, nothing more to say about it actually
And I was not saying it was not important. I was saying it was important as exploration, NOT as direct scientific benefit to mankind. That exploration MAY one day bring great benefits but for Tex to say to Killigan that his life might depend on the efforts of such people was just plain wrong.
Finti is right. You need to cool your attitude before steaming in with such accusations. We are not brushing off their deaths, far from it. But Killigan had a right to point out what he did, as it is a not uncommonly held view and he had reason behind it, and Finti and myself have a right to say what we have as well-which is NOT that their deaths do not matter, or that you should not mourn them, but simply that it is possible to overstate what this is. Whilst I feel for Tex the fact that he saw it happen does not change any of this.
As for the attitude that they should not have been up there in the first place- you will find that a majority of academia and scientists do indeed believe that manned space missions are a waste of money.
These are brave people who died doing what they believed in and knowing the risks they took, there is no doubt of that. But there was debate over whether what they were doing was worthwhile before this, and there will be after this, and if Killigan wants to point out that they were not the only people that died that day then he should be able to do so. It is a rather cold point, and not one I would have bothered making myself, but there is a certain sense behind it, and even if you do not like that attitude he certainly does not deserve to be assailed of talk about how much he should owe these people. That is his view and it should be respected.