Space Enthusiast (formerly Cynic)
A view of alt.space from those who STILL won't drink the kool-aid.
Just received this press release. Although they have been operating under a fairly good shroud of secrecy, the wrapper is starting to be removed, and, like Christmas, we are beginning to see the awesome present that was under the tree… So congratulations to another disrupter of the staid launch industry, Blue Origin, for […]
Read More This ain’t no stinkin’ drone… (wait for it)A recent article in TheStar.com discusses how space may be the first frontier for the next major conflict. By major conflict I assume one in which the US is engaged with another world power and not the sort of massively asymmetric warfare we are engaged in in the Iraq & Afghanistan. Thinking through how a […]
Read More It’s a MAE MAE MAE MAE MAE MAE World….Go back to the Moon Build a Lunar Settlement (see #1) Send humans to Mars Build a Space Based Solar Power Satellite (other than a demo, if that) Build a real replacement for the Shuttle (i.e. something reusable) Build a Space Elevator Fulfill any other wild fantasy of the Space Tragic community Giving kudos where […]
Read More Why We Won’t (fill in the blank):When Dennis Tito flew to ISS, there was an outpouring of cheering from the alt.space community because the era of space tourism was finally here. Claims were put forth about how the $10m price tag was only the start, to be followed by a decreasing price that would make space accessible to more and more […]
Read More So Much For Space Tourism…So in honor of our 300th post, i was planning to do a detailed examination of where we’ve been in the past couple years since the Space Cynics blog was started, how the industry has/hasn’t matured, predictions we (and others) have made that have/haven’t come true, etc. And then I read this little gem. Seems […]
Read More What’s next? A note from his Mom?So, if the alt.space gossip lines are right, there’s trouble a-brewing in the halls of NASA these days, with the Administrator (Mr. Griffin) apparently not terribly interested in working with the Obama transition point person (Lori Garver). Kudos to Al Fansome for pointing this out (initially on the SpacePolitics.com website, from which this was shamelessly […]
Read More And there goes the Moon, or “Liar! Liar! Pants on Fire!”For those who suffered through the 1st Presidential stump speech fest (“debate” is too strong a word for what I witnessed), you may have noticed that the issue of Space didn’t get any coverage, other than a passing reference to China sending some astronauts up and how we should focus more on math and science […]
Read More Well, it sorta got mentioned…Apologies for the radio silence over the past few weeks – real life stepped up and threw in a couple of major time consumers (big project for work, moving from DC to St Louis, packing/unpacking, speaking at a couple of conferences, etc). I thought i’d share a little bit of info to further my point […]
Read More Blog, interruptedAt this weekend’s ISDC in Washington DC, we had a rare alignment of travel schedules, not unlike the grand alignment of the outer gas giants (spare us the obvious jokes, folks!). Taking advantage of this opportunity, the three of us (David, Tom, and myself) and our honorary cynic, Reda (known to many as the first […]
Read More A Gathering of CynicsA post over at the Space Politics website discusses the recent testimony of Mr. Gene “Failure is Not an Option” Kranz, the longtime NASA Flight Director, at the space subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee on the planned reauthorization of NASA and the Vision for Space Exploration. Now I must admit that I have always […]
Read More Bad Analogies are NOT an Option, Mr. Kranz